Responsibility for Yourself

Taking responsibility for your own actions seems like a simple concept, but inevitably every situation has complications. Everyone has had a time where they have made a mistake, and had to own up to it. Although, in the real world there are also plenty of times where that does not always happen. This includes me, because I have made a lot of mistakes in high school, and did not take responsibility for them. These are mistakes that I am only able to regret now. The most notable time where I made a mistake, and failed to take responsibility for it, was the last relationship I was in. I will explain the time in my life where I found the importance of taking responsibility for your own actions.

When my freshman year was coming to a close, I started dating a girl. At the time, she was a sophomore and I was a freshman. My life seemed like it was heading in the right direction for the moment. That was probably right, but not for the reason I might have thought then. What I did not know was how the results of that relationship were going to affect my trust in people, my basic morals, and my views on responsibility. This girl and I made a lot of mistakes, which later led to the two of us pointing the finger at each other; Completely ignoring the values of taking responsibility for our own actions.

For instance, she cheated on me twice, something that was absolutely heart breaking at the time. Her reasoning was that I was becoming distant with her, and this was what led her to the decision to cheat on me. I obviously knew then that was rash thinking, thinking which placed her mistake and the fault on me. She totally did not take responsibility for her actions. What she should have done, instead of going behind my back, is told me that she wanted to end the relationship. But one of the big mistakes that I made, was push her to make the “right” decision. I then was unfocused on my obvious personal removal from her and did not take responsibility for that, and did not let her make her own decisions. Not without giving her a hard time at least, something I now regret. I did not during the relationship take responsibility for that.

This was a difficult situation that ended in a breakup, which seemed like a loss for me then. Two years have passed now, and I can say that I definitely needed that experience. Not for the pain that it brought me, but for the lessons that it gave me. What it taught me was that you cannot control others actions, and you can only control and take responsibility for your own actions. I have stayed to this rule since the worst of the break up was over, and so far it has only made my life easier. It helps because even if there are times where I cannot trust anyone, including myself, that I can learn from the mistakes that I make and grow. Overall, I learned that justice starts with yourself, and ends with giving people the freedom to choose their path.

“Dead Rose” by Scott..? is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0