Inappropriate

Here I go again - this time giving myself 25 minutes to type, edit & post.

I've encountered something strange, in certain people, and I've realised that all I want to do, when confronted with this phenomenon, is get as far away from them as possible. And stay away! The thing I'm talking about is when you have something in your life that you have CHOSEN, and that makes you HAPPY, that brings NO HARM, carries NO DANGER to you or anyone else, you are quietly going about doing your thing, and it enhances your feeling of  "all's well with my world", and these people have to tell you why you're either wrong to be doing it, why you should be doing it differently, or how they would do it if they were you. As the teenagers say, "Did-ask!" 

If I wanted someone to constantly tell me their version of how I should be myself, I would've stayed married!

I am 56 years old. I have experienced a lot, and I've learnt a lot. I do not engage in self-destructive pursuits, and am in fact a really harmonious, peace-loving individual. And that's the key word: INDIVIDUAL. If something in my life does not match up with your expectations of who and what I should be, and you're not playing an official role as an assessor, mentor or manager/employer - do me a favour, please: keep it to yourself!

I have friends who smoke, and it tears me apart that they're consciously taking one suicidal puff at a time, inviting all kinds of avoidable diseases into their lives - but that's their choice. If I don't want to be around cigarette smoke, I remove myself from the company where people are smoking. No matter how I want to cry out that a friend of mine died from emphysema a few months ago, directly as a result of excessive smoking (which he told me, himself), I don't. Even the cigarette packets have warnings on them. That's your choice. It doesn't have to make sense to me! It's your life. 

I have had to face the fact that some of my friends don't like my original music, and never come to my shows. I have even had to face that fact about close family members, but it's all part of life. Live and let live. I'm fortunate that life has sent me a warm and supportive artistic family, people I've met over the years who get me and my music. They know how to deliver their feedback without making me feel like crawling into a dark cave and never coming out again. They operate from a point of respect.   

So here's what I'd like to say, especially to those people who keep telling me their version of what's ok and not ok for me: I do not meddle in your life - I understand and respect that, as a mature adult,  you have a right to live your life any way you choose. It has nothing to do with me. Show me that same respect.   

The truth is, I owe you nothing - particularly not my attention, when you're being so inappropriate.