Taking Responsibility for Your Life
Updated on November 24, 2007
Taking responsibility for your life means that you hold yourself accountable for the decisions you make and the way those decisions affect your life. If you're not happy, you need to recognize what decisions you have made and continue to make to contribute to your unhappiness. If you want to be happy, you must figure out what decisions you need to make to achieve happiness. Sometimes the answers are easy. Sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're painful and frightening. No matter what you decide, the decision is yours. You are the person responsible for the course of your life.
Why Don't They [blank] Me? Waiting for Something to Happen
Fill in the blank: like, love, trust, care about, admire, think about, call, write, send a card to, send a gift to, etc.
What's the problem with thoughts like these? The problem is that these thoughts are about what other people do. You cannot control what other people do. No really, you can't control anything that anyone else does. Even if you hold a gun to their heads, other people still get to choose how they will respond to that gun. The only thing you can do is attempt to influence their decisions, and the only way you can do that is by controlling what you do yourself.
What Have I Done to [blank]? Making Something Happen
Fill in the blank: love others, be likeable, love myself, show other people that I care about them, show other people that I appreciate them, call a friend, write a letter, send a card, send a gift, earn money, accomplish my goals, achieve my dreams, etc.
We get what we give. If you want more unconditional love in your life, you must unconditionally love other persons. If you want more money, you must give something to the world that will inspire people to give you money or buy your product.
If you don't have friends, ask yourself, how friendly are you? What do you do to let people know that you're friendly? What do you do to let people know that care about them and consider them a friend? Are you trustworthy? Do you listen? Do you help people? Are you overly critical or judgmental?
Likewise, if you want to achieve a goal, what are you doing to get closer to that goal? Did you make a plan? Are you taking the necessary steps to make your dream a reality?
If you spend your life waiting for something to happen to you or for you, you will spend your entire life waiting because it won't happen unless you make it happen. Take responsibility for your decisions, your actions, and your life, and soon you'll see the life you having growing into the life you want.
...by Feed