Please Keep Living in Your Own Little World

I need your help. I am the parent of a teenage girl and lately it’s been hard work teaching her to ignore the voices of the world—voices that say act like this, look like this, think like this; be better, brighter, thinner, smarter!

How do I teach her to listen to the whisper from within when outside voices are so loud and persuasive?

It’s not easy living in your own little world. When you’re described as having your head in the clouds or having an imagination that runs wild, it usually isn’t a compliment.

That needs to change. And it’s why I need your help convincing not just my daughter but everyone that to live in our own little world is the only way to live.

Believe me. I’ve tested this. I’ve learned that when I’m in my own little world, I get to decide what’s important, what I want to do, and how big I dare to dream. I get to call the shots. I have dominion over my thoughts and I get to keep only the good ones, the ones that lift me up and remind me who I really am.

In my own little world, I don’t have to explain myself to anyone. I don’t have to justify my desires or present a practical plan to some governing body.

And here’s one of my favorite things: when I’m secure in my own little world, just because someone says or thinks something about me doesn’t make it true.

When I was a kid, if I questioned my parents about something I was supposed to do, they would say because I said so. Did you ever hear that from your parents?

That’s what I want to teach my daughter to say. Not to anyone else. Only to herself.

I’m creative. Because I said so.
I’m beautiful. Because I said so.
I’m successful. Because I said so.

I want my daughter to know that she has the power to decide what her world will look like.

(By the way, if you’re a writer, not only do you live in your own little world, but you create entire worlds for others.

Please keep doing that.)

If we can each commit to building our own little worlds, we can diminish the influence of the big, confusing world around us, the one that too often makes a teenage girl cry and believe she’s not enough.

Are you with me?

Like Ella Fitzgerald sings, Sweet dreams ‘til sunbeams find you.

Dream a little dream…of you.