Why "Being Responsible" Might be a Bad Idea

11 Jun 2009

As a kid, you spend a large portion of your time thinking about what life would be like when you were an adult and had accomplished the goals set out for you. You might have planned every last detail…from the job you’ll have to the house you will live in. This is all part of the process of growing up and seeing the world as a place full of wonderful opportunity.

So what happened? Are you living the life of your dreams or did you put it aside for something else? I bet I know what happened because like you, I’ve also fallen in to the same trap. Somehow, somewhere, we start feeling pressure from the societal guardians, the gatekeepers, to live our lives in conjunction with the will of the world. Although the pressure isn’t always overt, it is strong enough to dissuade us from really going after our dreams “full throttle.” In fact, it is my belief that there is one sort of pressure that is strong enough to actually make us feel guilty about doing what we want to do. This word is used as a lasso to rope us in back to “reality” so that we will conform and not make those around us uncomfortable. This word is called responsibility and boy is it a killer.

This word is trained to be used by weak willed people to keep you from achieving your dreams so that they don’t feel bad about giving up on theirs. They hone this blade like a hunter sharpens the steel of his arrow or spear and they use it whenever they feel threatened or have enough backup to help them in their hunt. In other words, they have nothing against you but this word, yet they use it to tame you.

Don’t get me wrong…being responsible in practical matters is important. Paying your bills so that you keep your house, electricity, and water is important. Finishing college so that you can expand your options upon graduation and work your way into the career field you enjoy is a responsible way to tackle your dreams head on. Finishing a client’s project before you move on to the next is not only responsible, but necessary in order to operate a successful business. These are the “good” types of responsibility.

However, the brand of “being responsible” I am referring to is something much different entirely. For example, your friends, family, and peers will tell you that quitting your job to pursue a year in Europe seeing the world is irresponsible. They will tell you that trying to become a full time blogger is an irresponsible way to make a living because you never know where your next paycheck will come from. People will tell you that you can’t possibly make a living on the internet and that you should come back down to “reality.” They’ll say that you are not contributing to the bottom line and that your responsibility is to your city, your state, or your country. You should make a respectable living because that’s what people do. Don’t do anything that challenges authority because it makes everyone else uncomfortable.

Well here’s what I say…screw that. It is so easy for people to forget this fact – We Only Live Once (in this body or life, religious debate is not the point of this discussion). You have one shot at being happy and then you either get there and die or you fail miserably and die anyway. So I ask you this: What’s the point of living if you can’t be happy in the process? Why should you impose boundaries on yourself just to appease others when the reality is that it won’t matter in the end anyway?

You have to take a good hard look at your life and ask yourself how you want to feel as you near the end of your days. When you look back on the life that you lived, do you want your heart to be filled with regret, guilt, and disappointment or would you rather be at peace knowing you gave it your best shot?

Sure, we might not achieve everything we set out to achieve, but that fact is irrelevant. The point is that you didn’t let others tell you how you should live your life and you took every challenge you faced head on.

If you feel that now is the right time to quit your job, then do it! Just make sure you have a plan.

If you think that you won’t be happy unless you see Hawaii before you die, then make plans now and go for it. When you look back, the chances are high that you won’t care at all about the five grand you spent having the vacation of your life even if it meant you couldn’t pay for new carpet for your home or an extra 1o shares of Google stock. Money comes and goes…once you learn how to manifest it you’ll realize that basing every decision on a superficial number is an impractical endeavor.

A life inspired by goal seeking and accomplishment is the factor that drives the creative and within. This is the state of a creative and inspired mind you need to be in to achieve your dreams. You can’t do it acting like one of the sheep that walk around afraid to take any risk. The only way to achieve this precision tuned state of self actualization is by living the life that you were meant to. It might not be 100% comfortable and you might be nervous, but that is a sign of positive change in motion. Going outside of your comfort zone is essential if you want to live a life that YOU design.

Don’t let society trap you in a set of artificial boundaries. Don’t let go of what you believe is important, even if you are the only one that believes it is. No one can touch what you have inside and the sooner you realize that the sooner you will be on the path to domination. Don’t spend the rest of your life telling yourself no. No one cares about your goals, your dreams, and your passions more than you do, so if you don’t become responsible for achieving them, then who is going to do it for you? I think you know the answer.

Let me know what you think…leave a comment below.