I Refuse to Be a Footnote in the Book of My Life

I’m going to be the protagonist of my own story. I refuse to let myself get carried away by what others may think or by the easiest path. Instead, I’m going to fight to be who I am and defend my identity, my own life and happiness. In the book of my life, there will be chapters that will hurt and make me cry. But there will also be others that will draw the best kind of smiles across my face. But all of them, absolutely every chapter, will be narrated in my own voice.

There will be people that, with the best intentions, will try to direct my life. Because they think that they are capable of writing a better chapter, because they think I’ll avoid sorrow that way. I want to say something to them. Sometimes you have to suffer in order to grow and build your own story.

There will be others who will want to directly turn themselves into the protagonists of my book, my narrator, my voice. And not for my own good, but because they are toxic people that need to live out multiple stories, harming others in the process. They rob others of their state as protagonist in order to make themselves more important.

These envious, gossiping and harmful people aren’t going to occupy a single line in my life. Because although they aspire to be the protagonists, they don’t manage to even be villains or antagonists. I refuse to give them any importance. These people live off of the value you give them. And in my case, I have decided that they are not worth a single world, a single drop of ink. 

I’m going to be the protagonist although it may hurt, because the people who love you accept your mistakes and become your constants, your walking sticks to help you stand up. They don’t try to change you. They accept you just as you are, with your past and everything. Because your past is your story, your life.

The best chapters in the book of my life are lived in good company

In the book of my life, the best chapters are always lived in good company. Those crazy, noisy and simultaneously sensible companions. Those who bring about your smiles with the wildest of stories. Those who truly leave a mark, those we call friends, the best kinds of company.

Some friends can be found on a page, making you smile in some lost paragraph. Others arrive and occupy a whole chapter, leaving a mark from a time that you will always remember. But the most important ones, your true friends, they are the ones who will always be there, through thick and thin. They will accompany you throughout your whole story, from the very moment they arrive.

The important ones, the best ones, the ones who are there and will remain, no matter what happens. We should really give them importance. Don’t waste your time on stories of people who want to hurt you. Instead, spend it on those who are always there when you need them. The ones who say much more with a single glance than others do with their false words.

I write it and live it

And like in many of my books, there will be chapters underlined and full of notes in the margins. It will have worn down pages, because they have been reread so many times that they start to mean something different. Specially when you review them in the company of the people who support and love you the most.

Also, in this book of my life, there will be lines twisted and marked by rage and tears as a result of someone who has harmed me. But, at the same time, they will have taught me how to live my own story. Because we all encounter villains. But, the most important villains are those who teach you what really holds value. They place the correct people by your side and show you who your real friends are.

Thus, I have learned that in the book of my life, I am the protagonist. I write it and I live it. No matter who may like or dislike it. I am also the one who chooses who I keep by my side and what I do in each paragraph. Quite simply, I refuse to be the footnote in the book of my own life, because I am the protagonist.

You have to fight for what you want, for what maters, for your own life. Because being happy has a price, and at times it even hurts. But not fighting in order to not suffer hurts you even more. Guiding yourself based on others who are seeking to become the protagonists only to avoid making your own decisions. Trying to please everybody, this makes it so you won’t even write your own story. Instead, it will be read to you by others.

And keep in mind that past mistakes don’t matter. Because the past is already written. It has lead you to the present, with a future yet to be invented. A present in which you can learn from the mistakes of previous chapters. Furthermore, you can choose the characters who will accompany you to the ones ahead.