My name is Paris. I'm just a college student from a normal New York City family, not rich or poor but like they call us on TV, "middle class." I'm not irresponsible or bratty. Not most of the time anyway and honestly, I don't think Paris Hilton is irresponsible and bratty either. She is ambitious, she works, and she has made quite a name for herself without being involved in acting, modeling, or music. Quite an achievement!
Anyway, I've been reading a lot lately and have been thinking a lot about life, friendships, and careers. Maybe it's just time pressure to pick a major and make sure I meet all the prerequisites before my junior year here. Maybe I just want to share my experience with others and spare them the drama of going through everything alone. I like philosophy a lot. Actually, I find it fascinating. Psychology is more practical, though, and directly applicable to your daily interactions with others. I've been reading “Personal Development for Smart People” by Steve Pavlina. Listen to this...
"Your experience is unquestionably your own. I can discuss your life with you, I can empathize with your situation, and I can do my best to help you. But afterward I can go home to my own life and leave yours behind. You never have that luxury.
If you try to deny or escape the burden of responsibility, it will only come back to haunt you later. You can let yourself go and slack off in your career, eat lots of junk food, and yell at your family, but the mess you create will be yours to experience. The sooner you recognize that total responsibility is inescapable, the better off you’ll be.
When you were a child, others may have assumed some responsibility for your well-being, yet you and you alone must still deal with the results. Whether you were raised by loving and attentive parents or angry alcoholics, the burden of responsibility for your life now rests squarely on your shoulders. That may seem completely unfair, especially if you didn’t have much control over your childhood experiences, but such are the vicissitudes of life.
It’s entirely pointless to blame God, your parents, the government, or anyone else for your lot in life. Blame can only make you powerless. It doesn’t matter who contributed to your current situation—all that matters is that you must live with it. No amount of blame can make that burden any easier.
No one is coming to rescue you. No one will hand you the career of your dreams, and no one will solve your relationship problems. No one will lose the extra fat on your body. If you don’t proactively solve your own problems, they’ll never be solved.
If you want different results, you must go out and create them yourself. Accepting full responsibility for your life means being willing to do what’s necessary to create the outcome you want. You must be willing to pay the price to meet your needs and fulfill your desires. You must actively make your life happen instead of passively letting it play out. You’ll surely make mistakes along the way, but you must never give up on yourself."
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