Take full responsibility for what happens to you. It is one of the highest forms of human maturity: Accepting full responsibility. It’s the day you know you’ve passed from childhood to adulthood.
-Jim Rohn
A few years ago I was playing with my friends, remembering old times when we were in school. We used to play rough, so we did the same this particular day. We were horsing around; let’s put it that way and my knee ended up dislocating.
Three ligaments were completely strained of the bone. When I went and visited the doctor, he told me that I should make my friends pay for my surgery because it was their fault. But I just remember thinking that, first, they did not mean to dislocate my knee and, second, it was my decision to play.
Just like the situation above, I have learned to take full responsibility to what happens to me and just deal with it...
I have learned to improve myself by becoming responsible for everything that happens to me and making myself do the things I don't want to do as well.
Before I continue telling you about responsibilities, I want to define what I have discovered is happiness.
You can get anything you want...
Happiness is to be able to do the things I love to do without limitations. For example be able to hike, run, bike, and do any physical tasks. To have the energy, stamina, strength to survive any unpredictable event.
Being healthy and young without diseases, illness and being able to withhold tremendous pain in case I needed. The more pain I can handle, the less rigorous any life event will be for me.
To have free time to do the things I enjoy and have the financial freedom to do anything I want without worrying.
To make an impact in people’s lives and knowing that I am making a difference in this world and, therefore, feel valuable and important.
To be able to spend time with those who I love and understand their motives, so I can once in a while surprise them.
To be able to manage stress and learn how to be at peace with myself.
To be smart, so malicious people won’t take advantage of my naiveness.
To be able to control my emotions and thoughts and be free from any negative addiction that can take my peace, freedom and my life away.
To reach the majority or all the goals that I have created in my lifetime.
So far I can say that I am right on track and I am extremely blessed with my life and I cannot ask for more without understanding that I am blessed and that I need to continue to be responsible.
Why is it important that I define happiness...?
Because that helps know what I want and do everything that is in my hands to achieve it.
This is what responsibility and discipline do when you learn how to apply it in your life. It gives you everything you want and more.
Let me be more specific. For me to be healthy, young and fit, without diseases, and do anything physically, I must eat healthy and exercise my body to the point that I need to challenge my body.
To be able to have free time and be financially free, I must learn how to manage my money and learn how to invest it. I can also say that I need to be patient because we have times where we plant the seed and days when we harvest.
To make an impact in people’s life I need to learn about people and learn how to love them and care about them and teach them what I have learned. I can only teach if I continue learning. Otherwise, I become obsolete.
To love others, I need to learn how to love myself. I have to act unselfish and think about others when I take any action that may only benefit me instead of everyone. Many times controlling negative desires is needed to have a healthy relationship.
To be at peace and manage my stress, I need to meditate, learn to forgive, have faith and do the necessary things.
So I can have control of my life, I need to learn and understand my emotions and thoughts by having time alone, by finding myself and giving up any momentary pleasures for long term results.
All these require responsibility and discipline...
Responsible and disciplined in my health, human relations, learning, finances, business, goals, self development, my mission, my behavior, my thoughts and emotions.
But when I say responsible and disciplined I mean to do it at all times even though no one is watching my actions. It is hypocritical to act in public one way and behave in closed doors differently.
When things happen to us and we take full responsibility for it , not caring if it was our fault, we just take action to improve the situation. And if we become disciplined to do the things we don’t like to do, not caring if we have someone watching us, we get the results we want.
You see, when we were younger or parents or teachers told us what to do to keep our room clean, to finish an assignment and learn from it, to work to pay for our stuff, to shower to be clean, to wake up early to get things done, to wash our clothes and so on. These tasks would not only give us results, but it would teach us how to healthy socialize with others.
However, now we have nobody to tell us what to do and our job is to make us do the things we don’t want to do if happiness is what we are looking for.
It is very simple, stop thinking about prompt gratification and start doing the difficult things you don’t want to do...
Your life will change drastically. You can get anything you want when you pass from childhood to adulthood. There are many grown up children in this world. Don’t let that be you and take full responsibility and be disciplined.