Historically, I have been unconsciously afraid to stand in complete truth and authenticity within my relationships, and this has led to many instances of people-pleasing and self-abandonment while engaged in the experience of relating to others. 

As my journey unfolds and I become more audacious—more unafraid to take risks and to embody myself with more liberty—I've recognized that as a human, I don't know everything, I make mistakes, and that I can be wrong. Why fear something that is inevitable—such as being wrong? Such as not knowing? We are born to learn. 

I've recognized that taking full ownership of my life is my key to true freedom, sovereignty, and autonomy. Radical self-responsibility provides me the ability to remain completely honest with the ways my actions affect every aspect of my life, thus gifting me the power to enact the necessary changes I need to make in order to create my life in alignment with the deepest knowing of my heart and spirit. 

In the same vein, taking full ownership of oneself is what I believe creates real, authentic intimacy within human relationships. We all move from distorted perception at times, unintentionally cause harm, and can become more consciously attuned to the needs of those we love. However, when needs are not being met within relationship (romantic, platonic, familial, group and collective), I believe that it is easy to fall into a mental dance of the victim/villain dynamic (when that is not exactly the case). I have identified with both victim and villain many times throughout my relational conflicts, and now I see that these identities have completely disempowered me from sitting with the complexity of human psychology and from attaining objectivity when understanding the situation—thus creating an increased ability for finding solutions that are authentic and honoring to the needs of both parties.

This episode provides my understanding of and insights about radical self-responsibility, using my real life experiences and relational conflicts to illustrate how I have gotten to where I am now: feeling unafraid to pursue real relationships with others because 1. I trust that I have the tools to remain authentic, without abandoning myself, 2. I now see how valuable it is to hear when I can show up better in relationship when feedback is given to me from a place of love, 3. I trust that I will speak up when my needs are not being met, so that I give the other person a chance to show up for me before I assume that they are incapable, therefore losing that source of love when it may be unnecessary, and 4. I'm imperfect, and being human is inevitably a messy process at times. 

Valuable TedxTalks I watched before recording this episode: 

How Radical Responsibility Can Change Your Life - Erika Cramer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3RENEfxVEc

Sovereignty: Radical Self Responsibility on Steroids - Dierdre Karger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZEgdJ0clWY

IG: https://www.instagram.com/embody.faith/?hl=en