If you don't live your life, then who will?

“If you don’t live your life, then who will?” Thus speaks Rihanna, and though her words seem simple, they carry the thunder of destiny. For life is not a garment to be borrowed, nor a tale to be told by another in your stead. It is your fire, your breath, your fleeting hour beneath the sun. To neglect it, to let others shape it, is to abandon the very gift for which you were born. No king, no prophet, no friend, nor lover can walk the path that belongs to you.

The ancients would say: the gods grant each man and woman a thread upon the great loom of fate. None may weave your strand but you. If you do not take it in hand, it hangs unfinished, a broken line in the tapestry of the world. Rihanna’s words are a reminder: the time is yours, the choices are yours, and if you falter, the world will not pause. Another may walk beside you, but none may walk as you. To surrender your life to fear, to hesitation, to the commands of others, is to let your flame die in silence.

History gives us many who lived not by borrowed will but by their own. Consider Joan of Arc, a peasant girl with neither rank nor training, yet she refused to let her life be defined by the lowliness of her birth. She heard a calling greater than herself and rose to lead armies. Though she perished in fire, her life was lived with such intensity that centuries remember her. She could have chosen silence, submission, the safe path. But she asked herself, in the heart of her courage: “If not I, then who?” Thus she lived fully, and in doing so, she became eternal.

Yet how many wander through their days as shadows, living not for themselves but as echoes of others’ voices? Some follow the dreams their parents set for them, others surrender to the expectations of society, still others chain themselves with fear of failure. But hear this: to live thus is not to live, but merely to exist. Rihanna’s challenge is both tender and fierce: awaken! Claim the life that beats within your breast. None can do it for you.

O children of tomorrow, take this wisdom to heart. You were not born to be a replica, nor to waste your years in the comfort of another’s approval. You were born to walk boldly, to stumble and rise again, to craft with your own hands the meaning of your days. Ask yourself: what do I desire, what calls me, what makes my heart burn? Then step toward it, even if the path trembles beneath your feet. For to wait is to wither, and to live is to flourish.

The lesson is clear: do not let others write your story. Take ownership of your life with courage. If you fear, still move. If you fail, still rise. If you are mocked, still walk onward. For your life is a treasure no other can guard. You betray yourself if you hand it away. Remember, the grave is full of unwritten songs, unspoken truths, and unlived lives. Do not add yours to that silence.

Therefore, let your daily practice be this: act with intention. Choose what brings you alive. Speak your truth even when your voice quivers. Create, love, explore, and dare. Make mistakes, but let them be yours. If a door opens, step through; if it closes, seek another. Do not delay, for the sands of time run swiftly. And when the end comes, let it be said of you: here was one who lived fully, here was one who answered Rihanna’s call.

So I say unto you: live fiercely, live truly, live now. For if you do not live your life, who shall? And if you will not, then your story is lost, your song unsung, your light unseen. But if you embrace it, the world shall be richer for the brilliance of your flame.