“Live Your Life” by Mr. Wu For most of us, we are told from a very early age that we should “live our lives.” But our parents, our teachers, our older siblings don’t really mean that we can live our lives however we choose. What they really mean is that you should study hard, work hard, and be a productive citizen in the most narrow sense of those words. In my case, “live your life” meant I could choose one of three careers – doctor, lawyer or business person. Live your life has always meant that I should follow my passions. Whether that meant wanting to be a film director in my twenties, a published novelist in my thirties, or a high school teacher in my forties, living my life was about what I wanted, not what someone else wanted for me. It is understanding that making money or being powerful are not that important when it comes to the life you have to live. Sometimes, you have to prioritize your time over the other ways that society has for keeping track of success. That big bank account often comes with sacrifices that you think you want to make but at the end of the day, you realize that the time spent with your family, with your friends, with your loved ones is a better way to measure happiness. Live your life is probably best represented by the way my sister has lived her life. She went to college with the intention of being a doctor but halfway through her junior year, she discovered her love of the fine arts. Needless to say, my parents were not very happy with this, but my sister preserved. When my parents cut off all funding for her schooling, she took out loans and found scholarships. She refused to give up on her dream of being an artist just because pursuing that dream became hard. Now, while my sister never quite became a “famous” artist, she would argue that she has lived her life – she’s a stay at home mom now, and her life is full of surprises because her young daughter constantly keeps her on her toes.