January 08, 2016

Start To Take Responsibility For Your Life

6 minutes

If there’s one thing I can hope for the New Year, is that I learn to take more responsibility for my choices. I’m not perfect and am invariably learning how to move through this life that I sometimes muck up by complicating it too much.

If I'm feeling a certain way, good or bad, I'm going to share it. I will be honest about how I'm feeling and not overanalyze it or ignore it. Yoga and meditation have taught me to listen to that "gut feeling." The intuition that we are all born with, but I know that I suppress at times.

I want to share ways that I will start to take responsibility for my choices and my life, and I hope they can help you do the same.

Be willing to say, "I am responsible." You and you alone are responsible for the choices YOU make. How we react to situations or certain people is not a group decision on how we react to things. I know I am willing to say this and mean it. I need to feel what this feels like knowing that the choices and decisions I make on a daily basis are my own responsibility. So the next time a driver makes me mad, and I want to say something not so nice, I'm going to recognize it and not blame the other driver, but take responsibility for my reaction.

Analyze what is holding me back. Accomplishing what I'm striving for is within my control. The same applies to whatever you are trying to achieve. If we are not moving closer to our goals, than what is holding us back? Are we making excuses and saying we are too busy? Do we depend on others to make a decision for something that we can take control of? Take the time and think about what is holding you back.

Am I playing the role of the victim? A victim mentality is something none of us ever want to admit to. Being a victim means we have given power over to another. We tell ourselves we are stuck in a situation or can't get the promotion because someone else has more control than we do. Let's stop playing the role of the victim. Our actions and words are powerful, and once we start taking responsibility for them, we become powerful creators. What category are you putting yourself into?

Eliminate these phrases from your vocabulary: “I have to; I have to do this; I have to do something I don’t want to do.” Over time, these are sayings I’ve learned to change. If there's something I don't want to do and it might upset some people, I'm willing to upset some people. For me, this is a hard one with my family. Coming from a large family, there are a lot of obligations. Dinners, birthday parties, graduations, family reunions, etc. I've lived out of state and away from my family for several years, but these things still come up. "I have to go home for this event," or "I have to go to make my mother happy." Learning how to stop saying, "I have to," has been huge in my growth with my parents and for myself.

I am looking forward to learning to take more responsibility for my actions and feelings this year. I hope these are helpful in your personal growth and knowing that we all struggle with some of these from time to time.

We are all doing the best we can, and some days are still a battle; I completely understand. But let's remember that taking responsibility is a huge step towards making our lives the best they can be.

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