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OWNERSHIP OF WHERE WE ARE DWELLING
Tuesday July 25, 2017
Do you own your own rut?
Too often we get mired in routine-plodding processes, ‘this stuff we do’. Everybody does. If this happens to you too – chill. You aren’t alone. Happens to everybody. Feeling mired, stuck, somewhat stalled – when we’ve lost momentum, hit improbably obstacles – easy to throw up our hands in disbelief that we’ve wasted valuable time and energy getting to that point, to that place, only to have malaise invade …
Is our ‘rut’ some physical place? Is it real property, real estate or ‘state of mind’ route/road/rail taking us somewhere?
Heraclitus said: No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
My rut is never the same, nor am I.
Mine runs deep, runs true – sometimes muddy, sometimes blue, unrelenting trajectory of path to somewhere, carrying me alongside on incredible journeys. Sometimes my path and my rut’s path seem destined to diverge a bit – nor far, not for long, but then realign until someone says “squirrel” and then some diversion might occur. Diversions and distractions are everyday reality – but, compass-like, I return to my directional settings.
At work or home – we all have roles, reputations and responsibilities.
Do we own them?
Own the credit, or the blame?
Accepting responsibility as well as obligation to be true to ourselves?
Accountability must rest somewhere – it isn’t just an accident, isn’t fate – so, if not ME, then WHO?
Not someone else’s job or obligation. Just our own. That’s freedom. In many countries we have ‘freedom of expression’ as foundation of laws.
Yet so many don’t feel free to express who they are, what they think and how they feel. Why? It isn’t that they aren’t prepared to ‘own it’, but they fear what others will say or do – afraid they’ll endanger themselves, jeopardize relationships or diminish opportunities.
Early in career folks can wipe the slate clean, resign, move on … often wisely so; not because they are stuck but because they haven’t found their own rut yet …
I’ve been stuck, mired in mud, unable to break free from my rut many many times.
Key, I believe, not so much to success in ‘accolades and money form’ but in terms of happiness is to love the rut you are in. Our rut. Our own making. Sometimes spinning tires making it only deeper, more completely defined, wanting to yell “YAY!”, because we are exactly where we’ve put ourselves, on exactly the trajectory we’ve created, in control of our destiny and direction. That’s ownership.
Yes, “I own it”.
I get annoyed when politicians make points of ‘who owns it’ as if owning the results of your decisions or position is a bad thing somehow, as if having principles and viewpoint is something to be skewered for, derided for and held accountable for. The only element of that I support, is ‘held accountable for’.
I am accountable for everything in my life, in my rut, on my path and every element of my incomplete journey.
I own every success, own every failure – every opinion, every embarrassment, every faux pas, every brilliant moment, every bit of clarity.
This ‘rut’ state of mind, like a home – you can rent for a while, or you can own it.
Reader feedback:
VALUE SYSTEMI don't think it is true everyone assumes the same work ethic, in my experience. Instinctively most people could appreciate a baseline and whether the choose to rise above it or float depends on each' personal values. Those PVs tend to drive the ethic - the need to be accepted, the need for accomplishment, the need to have a certain lifestyle..etc. My experience leading saw many facets of where individuals see themselves. Some would openly admit that they were not prepared to have the work ethic required to take them from point C to A. Some put a higher personal value on family, friends or even tending to their lifestyle addictions, HG, Calgary, AB
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