RESPONSIBILTY

Ultimately, you can blame God, the government, your parents, or whomever you want for the way your life is. But they aren’t living your life. You are.

If you want to be happy in life, the first step is to acknowledge that no one has the power to do this, apart from you. That doesn’t guarantee that you will be happy; but blaming other people for the way your life is, pretty much guarantees that you will be unhappy.

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I am completely responsible for everything that happens in my life. Everything.

Which is both incredibly scary and incredibly liberating. Well, I have no one that I can point the finger at when things go wrong for me; and I have no one who is going to swoop in like Superman to save my sorry arse.

I am constantly walking a tightrope between joy and despair and falling flat on my face.

But through it all, I am still here.

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To be responsible you have to be response able – able to respond effectively. Blaming others stems from being response unable; you focus all your energy on others because you are completely incapable of dealing with the mess yourself.

If you were response able, there would be no one to blame, as all your attention would be on how to resolve the situation satisfactorily. So, be response able: focus on the solution, not the problem.

And focus on how you were the hero of the hour.

© Phillip A. Klein March 2008