I am very grateful to have met so many wonderful people from all walks of life. Talking to them, sharing with them, working with them, and listening to them has given me a window into the beautiful and rich diversity of life.
They too have fears, hopes, dreams and disappointments just like each one of us. What I respect most in many of them is their quiet and confident expression of being responsible for their lives. You never hear them say ” I wish my life was different”.
Do they complain? They do. But never do I hear them say I wish things were different. What they have made me think about is our need to be responsible for our lives. To aspire to things that are out of our reach but to never lose sight that we need to make our lives work. That we must pay our own bills, raise our children confidently, and to be responsible for the choices we make in our lives.
What is fascinating to me is when I see parents continue to be extremely close to their adult children’s lives. Where adult children live with parents for many years. Where communication between them happens seven times each day. Where parents grow comfortable with staying attached to them as if they were still in grammar school.
Being responsible for your life is something that we must teach our children well. First and foremost so that they learn how to become independent and self supporting for their own survival. For their own good and not ours as we will not be with them forever. To help them move past our imperfections as parents to give them the opportunity to become more by feeling more comfortable with who they are.
Being responsible for your life is something we must remind ourselves during our darkest days. Being responsible for your life is critical to remember during our deepest moments of confusion and uncertainty. For being responsible for your life sometimes forces us to be more practical and more patient.
No one teaches a class on how to become responsible for your life. Sadly, some learn from trial and error, others through the cultivation of self-esteem a parent has instilled in a child, or a critical unexpected even shakes us up enough that we look inside ourselves to see that we are our own life’s major player.
Regardless of our challenge or our chasing of the next big idea that will change our lives, we must first remind ourselves that embracing the responsibility for our lives lies with us and not others. It is the foundation upon which our independence and our ability to choose more wisely demands us to understand clearly as we begin our next new day.