Accepting Responsibility For Your Life

If you’ve done much reading about accepting responsibility, you have probably come across the statement that everything that happens to you in your life is the result of choices you have made and that with properly-focused thoughts you can control your life, your success, your health, and your future. I have trouble buying into this viewpoint. However, I do strongly believe that even though you may not have control over everything that happens to you, you do have control over how you react to situations and events.

  • Realize that everything you do has consequences. Try to show good judgement and exercise emotional control in any given situation.
  • Stop trying to assign blame when something bad occurs. What has happened has happened… the situation already exists… and it doesn’t do you any good to try to pin down who was at fault. Instead, accept, try to forgive and forget, and do what you need to do to get past the moment.
  • Forgive yourself. If you’ve made mistakes, admit that they were your fault and make any necessary apologies. Then let it go and move on. Dwelling on mistakes only makes them more important than they should be.
  • Don’t keep making excuses, even if you feel the need to explain why you did what you did. Excuses hold you back, and you are not accepting responsibility if you continue to try to justify your actions.
  • Try to keep away negative thoughts. Negativity is a drain on your emotions and your intellect. Positive thinking creates positive energy that will help you leave the situation behind and move forward.
  • Don’t succumb to the victim mentality. A victim has no power and no control over anything, and that is not the type of person you want to be. Self empowerment has to come from within.
  • Admit that you might not be right. Although it may hurt your pride in the short term, acknowledging that you’re wrong can help you see other options and approach the problem or situation in an entirely new direction.

Accepting responsibility for your actions and your life is one of the most important aspects of personal development. Anyone can graciously accept success and good times. It takes a strong character to successfully cope with adversities and failures and still move forward with a positive outlook… and that’s the type of person we all want to be.

Written by Shirley | Filed Under Personal Development, Voluntary Simplicity

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Comments

Comment by Brigid Walsh:

Wanted to tell you how excellent your post is on taking responsibility. If more of us – including our governments and corporations, practised this, a whole lot of stuff could be improved or eliminated.

Comment by TJH:

Disappointed to find only one comment on this excellent post. It seems to me that the first step to any real change involves exactly what you’ve discussed above. All the rest — buying a wood-burning stove, comparison shopping and what not — will finally just reinforce the person’s current lifestyle unless he or she has made a core commitment to changing that life-style. Responsibility and commitment remains the keys.

Comment by Camille:

Shirley, I’ve been an outspoken advocate for taking personal responsibility since the age of 13, believe it or not. This kind of thinking came about because I had a dad who was an alcoholic and my mom would always assign some responsibility for his drinking to me, e.g., make sure you send your dad a valentine’s day card, (they were divorced)make sure you call him on his birthday – he may start drinking if you don’t, etc.
You also stated: Self empowerment has to come from within.
I love that! Over the past couple of years I’ve been able to empower myself by dropping past resentments and anger. It’s so fulfilling to be able to do that. I plan on linking to this post of yours in my own blog post on responsibility. Thanks for your blog.

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