Keep Inside the Box

How often do we hear

That you are expected 

To do certain things

Or behave in a specified manner

Which only leads us to conform

To that which is 

Expected of us

Instead of truly grasping 

Who we really are

And doing things

That are unique to us

It could be careers

Where you go to school

Who you hang out with

What activities you engage in

Yet all the time

We are being inauthentic

To ourselves

By living someone else's life

Instead of our own

Just because we were raised

In a specific environment

Where specific things 

Were expected 

Of those who live within it

Doesn't mean that we have

To follow the prescribed formula

And be like everyone else

When it is our turn to choose

Where we go to school

What job we have

Who our friends are

Or what activities we partake

Yet we all feel trapped

We don't want to disappoint

We want approval

Of those that matter to us

But when it comes to it

Whose approval and satisfaction

Matters the most

That of those around us

Or that we call our own

Only we are stuck with the lives

That we choose to live

And by taking ownership 

Of the process 

We are enabled to venture out

And do those things which are true 

To who we are

Yet it feels like we are fighting

This never ending current

That pulls us away from what is true

To who we are

But in the end

All that matters

Is that we behave 

In accordance 

With the rules and guidelines

We set and establish

For the life we want to live