Personal Responsibilty
 

Found this at www.coping.org


What do people believe who have not accepted personal responsibility?

• It's not my fault I am the way I am.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P> </O:P>
• I never asked to be born.<O:P> </O:P>
• Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?<O:P> </O:P>
• I want you to fix me.<O:P> </O:P>
• Life is unfair! There is no sense in trying to take control of my life.<O:P> </O:P>
• Why go on; I see no use in it.<O:P> </O:P>
• You can't help me, nobody can help me. I'm useless and a failure.<O:P> </O:P>
• God has asked too much of me this time. There is no way I'll ever be able to handle this.<O:P> </O:P>
• When do the troubles and problems cease? I'm tired of all this.<O:P> </O:P>
• Stop the world; I want to get off.<O:P> </O:P>
• Life is so depressing. If only I had better luck and had been born to a healthier family, or attended a better school, or gotten a better job, etc.<O:P> </O:P>
• How can you say I am responsible for what happens to me in the future? There is fate, luck, politics, greed, envy, wicked and jealous people, and other negative influences that have a greater bearing on my future than I have.<O:P> </O:P>
• How can I ever be happy, seeing how bad my life has been?<O:P> </O:P>
• My parents made me what I am today!<O:P> </O:P>
• The problems in my family have influenced who I am and what I will be; there is nothing I can do to change that.<O:P> </O:P>
• Racism, bigotry, prejudice, sexism, ageism, and closed mindedness all stand in the way of my becoming what I really want to be.<O:P> </O:P>
• No matter how hard I work, I will never get ahead.<O:P> </O:P>
• You have to accept the luck of the draw.<O:P> </O:P>
• I am who I am; there is no changing me.<O:P> </O:P>
• No one is going to call me crazy, depressed, or troubled and then try to change me.

In order to accept personal responsibility you need to develop the ability to:

• Seek out and to accept help for yourself.<O:P> </O:P>
• Be open to new ideas or concepts about life and the human condition.<O:P> </O:P>
• Refute irrational beliefs and overcome fears.<O:P> </O:P>
• Affirm yourself positively.<O:P> </O:P>
• Recognize that you are the sole determinant of the choices you make.<O:P> </O:P>
• Recognize that you choose your responses to the people, actions, and events in your life.<O:P> </O:P>
• Let go of anger, fear, blame, mistrust, and insecurity.<O:P> </O:P>
• Take risks and to become vulnerable to change and growth in your life.<O:P> </O:P>
• Take off the masks of behavior characteristics behind which you hide low self-esteem.<O:P> </O:P>
• Reorganize your priorities and goals.<O:P> </O:P>
• Realize that you are the party in charge of the direction your life takes.<O:P>

</O:P>

Boy oh boy, is that a portrait of my first husband! Quick story to illustrate:

My exH is driving around on fumes. Not a cent in his pocket. He runs out of gas. He then calls me and asks if I'll come with my gas can and give him some gas. I tell him no. The next time he talks with our son he tells him he has no car. And now for the direct quote "Thanks to your mother my car got towed."

You know, in all honesty, I portray more of these traits than I would like to admit to. I try and keep a firm grip on reality, but its always a good reminder for me!

Oh yeah...I used to say a few of those..Blaming my parents for everything because it was all their fault..

glad to see I've grown up..