You must take responsibility for your own choices and actions, for you learn nothing until you take ownership of your life. – Leon Brown
Who is responsible for your life? You and only you. Other people can affect your life, sure. They can hurt you or help you. But ultimately, you are the one to make your choices and so the consequences fall upon you. As an adult, taking responsibility is the ultimate way of finding freedom.
Many people blame others for their problems. To be fair, others can contribute to our problems. But sadly, only we can fix them. Only we can take responsibility.
Maybe you had an unfit parent who hurt you. That was real. But today you can’t change that. You can take the problems you have today and assume responsibility for them. Note that responsibility does not imply guilt. When you take responsibility, you choose to accept that the problems are real and that you can start to fix them.
It’s a difficult topic. Often, we feel it’s unfair. After all, others hurt us or others failed in the past. Why should we take responsibility? Because that’s the path to freedom and independence.
Responsibility means that we accept that we are the only ones who can improve what we don’t like. We can’t sit around and wait for something to happen. We have to make it happen. Accepting this makes life easier because it gives us back control over what we do and how we choose to solve our issues.
Being free doesn’t mean doing whatever we want. It means doing what we want and accepting the consequences. Then, we become truly adult and truly free.
A scary thing about life (scary and wonderful) is that we could do anything, really anything. We could change a profession, get married or divorced, travel to the Tibet or go to New York. But each decision comes with a consequence. When we are ready to accept this, we are ready to make a decision.
Nobody else can be responsible for your life when you grow up. They can’t make your decisions for you. When this does happen, it usually leads to tragic consequences. Other people won’t make the best decisions even if they have the best intentions. You can’t be free without being responsible.
Accepting responsibility for your own issues and problems is scary. But it will set you free to live a fulfilling life and explore all the opportunities in front of you. Take the step. You will be surprised by how it transforms you.
