CHOOSE yourself.

No matter what your choices are, at any given point of time you will find people who support your choices and who criticizes it. This is true for any decision, any life choice you make. Small or big. Consequential or otherwise. You may as well choose what you want.

It is a simple yet hard lifehack. One of the most life changing decision I've ever made for myself early in life. 

Every time you put yourself behind others desires, you are saying No to yourself. Sometimes it is okay, sometimes it is necessary. But it is not ok if it happens more in favor of others than you or most of the time or all the time. Like,

You are going to have a pizza where your friend likes to eat. You like it too, but not as much as your friend does. 

Your friend likes to watch action movies, you like them to but you enjoy comedy more. 

Your brother or sister wants to watch sports when you want to listen to music. 

You are working on a project when your colleague comes and asks your help, or your boss comes and asks for something else. Its ok sometimes, not all the times. 

You feel, by doing so you are building a relationship, or strengthening it. If same is not reciprocated by others, it starts to disintegrate not only that relationship but you. It triggers resentment first towards the person, situation and then to your own actions, choices, yourself. This leads to loss of confidence, loss of trust, loss of interest, loss of vigor for life. This leads to mere survival aim than to thrive. 

Alternatively every time you choose yourself, you are building yourself. You gain confidence. You add to your knowledge. How else you will otherwise learn about your own likings and disliking's. Even if choices doesn't return positive, or desired outcomes, you learn to own it. stand by it. And correct it. You thrive when you learn. And we are meant to thrive. 

Rejecting what you want, choosing others desires over yours consistently hurts. Unfortunately not physically. Don't surround yourself with people who do not care what you want. Don't surround yourself with friends(or so called) who don't know your likings and disliking's. Don't say no to yourself. 

If you don't CHOOSE yourself, who will?