Anne Frank-Live Your Life

Anne Frank-Live Your Life. This article will focus on a particular event, the diary entry of one little girl on the first of August 1944. This was the last diary entry of the fourteen-year-old Anne Frank. It details in a few words the trauma that she went through as she and her family had to hide in an attic to escape German persecution during the second world war. However it also clearly reflects the good and bad that Anne felt herself to be and her struggle to try and be the person she wanted to be and to live the life she wanted to live. Three days later, Anne and her family were arrested and sent to a Nazi concentration camp, where Anne would later die on March 15, 1945, aged fifteen.

“I get cross, then sad, and finally end up turning my heart inside out, the bad part on the outside and the good part on the inside, and keep trying to find a way to become what I’d like to be and what I could be if . . . if only there were no other people in the world.”            – Anne Frank

This statement perfectly captures the internal struggle that occurs when external pressures cause a change in your identity. Because, when the actions of others dictate what you do and how you act it, can cause a profound effect on your emotions. Anne was living in a world where there was so much hate directed at her and all the people she loved. How could she look at herself as being ‘good’ with all the other people in the world telling her that she is not.

Obviously Anne lived in a terrible time, and a young Jewish living in Europe during the holocaust is very different than any of our own circumstances, yet as with everything in life, there are lessons to be learnt.

• How would you be if there was no one else in the world?
• What makes your identity?

Whilst our environment influences us all, you must strive to discover who you are irrespective of those exogenous factors. There is a time and a place to fit into a social hierarchy and follow social norms, but mindlessly conforming to the world around you will ultimately mean you are unfulfilled with the person you become.

Another interesting aspect of this quote is the thought of ‘turning your heart inside out’. Anne discusses the anger she feels towards the world causing her to hide her good qualities and display her ‘bad part’, this is something which we all face daily. For example when someone is rude to you in the checkout, and as a result you are short with your ‘innocent’ kids on the way home, that demonstrates the influence of others has a huge effect on how you think and feel. Anne was facing enormous hardship and she can feel herself becoming this negative hateful person.

In your life, you must not let others control your emotions. To the best of your ability, live the life that you want to live. Hopefully, unlike Anne Frank your life is not threatened nor are you confined. Although no one can be positive all the time and sometimes you will feel sad & miserable do realise that you are the only person who is in control of your emotions. You can remain sad or you can pick yourself up and move on.

Try and be conscious of who you are, live the way you would live were there no other people in the world influencing your behavior. And especially be thankful for what you have. Whenever this feels hard to do, allow yourself to briefly think of young Anne, and how her life was cut short before she could find her place in the world.

You have your whole life ahead of you and you have the ability and the power to discover the real you.

Start searching and be joyful with what you discover.