Perrysburg Pulse Magazine Perrysburg Pulse November | Page 6

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR ACTIONS – ALL OF THEM! W Chat With Tiffany Turner a Health & Wellness Coach with a passion for people. e all know how stressful life can get, and how quickly things can get a little bit . . . well ... out of control! It’s so easy to blame things on other people or even on the circumstances around us. Why didn’t my (fill the blank) take it out already?” No. Why didn’t you? If you find yourself trying to blame others for every roadblock you encounter or even every mistake you make, it has probably created many issues for you in the past. Especially if you have always tried to shift blame onto your partner, family, friends, or people you have to work closely with. “The dog ate my homework.” Really? “Why is that table in the middle of the room? I just smacked my knee on it!” No matter how much people love us, there is only a certain number of times most people will tolerate taking the blame for something that genuinely wasn’t their fault. Blaming other people can provide us with an excuse to act in a hurtful manner. It’s a way of justifying our actions. This also causes us to weaken our relationships. “This stove isn’t working right. I just burned my whole meal.” “The house was chaos this morning, the kids weren’t listening, and now I’m running late!” When silly things happen, what’s your first thought? Do you immediately pass fault onto something besides you? Or do you look at what you could’ve done differently so this stuff doesn’t happen again? For instance, your girlfriend mentions that you haven’t reached out in awhile. Do you pass blame and respond with frustration and anger because she hasn’t reached out either? How dare she? Does she know what you’ve been going through? OR do you empathize with her and tell her how much you missed her and that you want to do better in making time for her? For example, if you woke up 30 minutes earlier and got yourself ready first, maybe you wouldn’t be running late. Hmmmm . . . Stepping up and taking responsibility for what’s going on in your life is one of the most important things you will ever do—and one of the best. You truly are in control. Life is all about making mistakes. It’s only through getting things wrong that we learn how to do them right. If we never accept that we’ve made a mistake, how can we ever learn to do things better? Things go wrong. We make mistakes. Accidents happen. Life may not always go the way we hoped it would. You are where you are because of who you’ve been. Everything that exists in your life exists because of you, because of your behavior, your words, your actions. So, how do we learn to start taking responsibility for ourselves? BUT! We need to remember that we alone are responsible for our thoughts and our behavior, whether deliberate or unintentional. Yes, sometimes we say or do things and don’t even realize what we’ve done. A responsible person makes mistakes, but when they do, they take responsibility and make it right. BE ACCOUNTABLE If your children are feisty, your partner is unreasonable, your coworker unbearable, you are always responsible for how you respond. Your behavior is under your control. No matter what the situation... never let your emotions overpower your intelligence and how you respond. A lot of things that happen to us are the result of multiple contributing factors and can be caused by a mix of our own actions and those of other people. “The trash is full. Arrrgh, now the dog got in it and made a mess. 6