Taking responsibility: control the controllable’s

Taking accountability for your own life can be made simply by focusing on controlling the variables in your life that you have authority over.

Over the past few years, fuelled by the media, woke culture, and social network platforms, a culture of blame and responsibility shifting appears to have surfaced. There is a trend emerging where people jump to accuse others for their problems instead of looking inward to solve the issue for themselves.

There is an uncomfortable but true distinction that many people need to come to terms with, fault and responsibility. There is a differentiation between the two that is important to realize.

For example, you may have experienced bullying or trauma previously in your life, or you may have a physical issue that occurred, both of these circumstances may have arrived through no fault of their own. However, these problems or barriers that exist within your life are unfortunately your responsibility to fix. It is a harsh but true lesson that many people need to accept if they wish to change aspects of their life, they are unhappy with. No one is going to fix those issues for you, and no amount of blame shaming or responsibility shifting is going to change that.

Now, this idea of taking accountability for your own life can be made simply by focusing on controlling the variables in your life that you have authority over. The phrase ‘control the controllable's is a phrase often associated with athletes, but people can implement it into their daily routine to improve their mentality and outcomes. For example, someone may be diagnosed with a chronic illness, and that is incredibly unfortunate but there is very little that that person can do about it. Thus, channeling energy into being angry and resentful about it won’t change anything and will only serve to amplify that person’s unhappiness or misery. So instead of viewing their circumstance through a lens of bitterness, that person can channel their efforts into manipulating the aspects of their life that they DO have control over. Control the food you eat, control WHO you spend your time with, and HOW you spend it. CHOOSE to have a positive attitude.

This attitude can be extremely liberating and instill a sense of empowerment for many individuals. Instead of continually focusing on the parts of your life that are not under your control, view the other side of the coin and recognize the power you do in fact have to improve other aspects of your life.

In a world where people now look to perpetually call out injustice and blame others for both their own and societal problems, it is ironically halting the change that many supposedly seek. Taking absolute responsibility for the actions you take (as simple as that may seem) and focusing only on the variables you can control is a powerful and important mindset shift that can radically change your life