dreams

“If you take responsibility for yourself you will develop a hunger to accomplish your dreams.” – Les Brown.

Funny thing, responsibility. I’ve had a very up and down relationship with it. At once empowering and terrifying, responsibility has given me some of my biggest challenges and delivered some of my biggest triumphs.

Marriage. Children. Business. Health. Love.

All of these have given me increasing exposure to responsibility, and sometimes that scares the hell out of me. Mostly, I get this feeling that I want to curl up in a ball and hide from the world. So I sleep, or immerse myself in books, or fiddle with computer stuff like website design and social media.

Interestingly, those actions simply take me further from resolving anything, and deeper into fear and paralysis.

Fortunately, I don’t always feel this way. The majority of the time, I love the freedom and excitement that responsibility brings. I am literally my own boss, and I lead a flexible, healthy lifestyle that I enjoy very much. I am able to be a great father to my children, and a terrific husband to my wife, as a result of that freedom.

By taking responsibility for myself, I make my own destiny through life. I choose what I do, how I do it, and with whom. I am not subject to very many obligations, unlike so many people with corporate jobs who “have to stay late at work” instead of spending their time with family, or on their hobbies.

I am incredibly fortunate.

My experience is in direct agreement with today’s quote; by taking responsibility for myself, I have opened up a world of opportunity and freedom, and now find myself continually looking to ever-broadening horizons. I have a thirst for adventure and experiences that is exactly like a hunger within.

Dreaming is no longer the challenge – dreaming big enough, is.

And what about you? Have you taken responsibility for yourself? Do you have a hunger to accomplish your dreams? This can be, I know, a very confronting question. Do me a favour. Whatever your answer, just sit with it for a while, and look at it from all sides. Taste it. Feel it. Really be with your answer.

What would change in your life if you took responsibility for yourself? (Or, took even more for yourself?) What doors would open? What opportunities would arise? What growth could you experience, and who would you know yourself to be, once you were on the other side of the choice?

I’d love to hear from you about this. Please drop me a line, comment, email, or phone call.

With love,
Israel. xo

P.S. Today’s post was written in the post-funk haze of a day where I took very little responsibility for myself. The day felt bland and insipid as a result, and I felt as though I’d let myself and my family down. I wrote it as much for myself as for you. Thanks for helping to bring out the positive in me, once again. I am so deeply grateful to you, my dear reader.