Do you ever feel responsible to ensure people in your life that you care about are enjoying their life or taking care of themselves like they should? As an Achiever, I did in the past and I learned from it. Inspire Moment #40 is titled Control and Responsibility and I want to share what I learned.
When I took responsibility to make sure that “so-and-so” was having a good time or that they were “alright” was that it only put more pressure on my shoulders that wasn’t mine to have to begin with. No one asked me to take “that” responsibility. Why was I doing it? Probably because I cared too much about the person and maybe because I wanted to make sure everything was under control. Now there is nothing wrong with caring too much, you just have to learn that people aren’t like you and they won’t respond the way you would like them to. People may not care the way you care. You have to Cut the Rope and let it go!
Another way to look at taking responsiblity all the time is that it may be doing harm to the person you are trying to help. Here is what I mean…if we always pick up the slack, step in for them, be the Achiever that we are and make sure everything is ok, when will they ever grow up to take that responsibility for themselves? When will they ever learn to be independent? They may never. They may never grow up. They may never ever care as much about themselves as you care about them BUT, do you know what? That isn’t your problem and it is isn’t your responsibility. Tough pill to swallow but it’s the truth.
Just For Today “test out” letting go of that control in feeling responsible for it all. See what happens!