The topic of Responsibility keeps coming up lately.  Specifically, being 100% responsible for everything in your life. 

My initial response was, I take responsibility for my life, but then realized that this is deeper than that.  I asked myself, how responsible am I for EVERYTHING in my life?

I am late, due to a slow vehicle or traffic.  If I was 100% responsible, then I am late because I did not allow time for this type of situation.  It is not the vehicle or traffic’s fault.

If I miss a payment on a bill because I didn’t receive the statement, 100% responsibility would mean that I should have either a system in place or should know when each bill is due, so that I could have known it didn’t arrive.  It isn’t the US Post Office’s or the company’s fault that I did not receive the statement.

How much was I blaming others or situations as an excuse not to take responsibility for my life?  Tough question!  Even tougher was the answer.

I realized that every time I did not speak up for what I wanted, thought, or felt that I was not being responsible for my life.

If I didn’t accomplish something, I could make excuses on why, who or what circumstances prevented it from happening – instead of recognizing that it was my responsibility to do whatever was necessary to ensure it did happen.

How much do we as individuals and society NOT take responsibility for our own lives?  How much do we blame the government, companies we work for, our bosses, family members, friends, and co-workers etc. for things in our life, circumstances, etc. that we are exclusively responsible for?

Just something to ponder!

Live BIG, Laugh LOTS!
Debbie