Smokey the Bear once said “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
In fact, here he is now!
While it’s not entirely true, it is entirely true. Only YOU can make any kind of change in your world. Only you.
I was inspired to write this post by Aaron Schwenzfeiers recent blog-link to Scott Berkun’s blog. The question Aaron posed was whether or not Americans should receive more time off – if that might help to get people more physically active.
I’m not convinced.
Personal Responsibility
This brings up a huge issue that I’m writing a totally separate entry about – around the concept of “personal responsibility.”
I won’t go into that entire subject in depth here, but only comment on part of it. Change, and doing what you can, with what you have, right now.
Just Do It
My main question to Aaron was – What do people use their free time for now?
When life is stressful, and seems out of your control, you’re more likely to view free time as an excuse to “take it easy,” to relax, or to indulge in the things you don’t get to when you’re busy working (perhaps at something you do not actually derive any satisfaction or fulfillment from).
It’s very similar to what dieters experience, who deprive themselves of foods, and have one cheat day. The cheat day ends up negating the effects of the rest of the diet.
Better, I think, to focus on changing your individual situation.
The Serenity Prayer
The Serenity Prayer is typically associated with Alcoholics Anonymous, though it was created well before AA came into existence.
It says:
God, grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
To change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference.
I really like this prayer. I think it does a good job of reflecting the attitude we need to have in life. Because, while “personal responsibility” is not the end-all be-all of existence (there are things that are truly outside of our control), we do have an incredible amount of power, especially nowadays, to make positive change in our lives.
Enculturation
If you’ve read my blog for a while, you say this coming. Culture trains us to think certain ways. That also holds true for the ways we think about our own personal freedom, and our responsibilities.
Most pertinent to this post, it holds true for our conceptions of what is possible. I still encounter situations, on almost a daily basis, where I realize that the only thing that had ever stopped me from doing a particular thing was the belief that it was actually possible, a plan to accomplish it, and the action to make the plan happen.
That is, I wasn’t given either the self-confidence to believe in such a possibility, or, equally as important, the framework for making change in my life once I had a belief or goal.
In our culture, we seem to foster a constant desire to “have/make things change.” While that’s not entirely bad, it’s not accurate, either.
“Things” never change. “Things” always are just as they are. You, you can change. Your life situation, you can change. Your actions (most importantly) you can change.
You can take control of what’s within your grasp to control.
The Panacea
If there is a “cultural panacea” it will have something to do with giving people self-confidence, and the tools to turn that confidence into positive action for their lives and well-being.
That being said, a lot of the folks whom we think should change, don’t think they need to change at all. We talk about creating change a lot – for instance, in the need to decrease obesity in the United States, or increase physical activity. But the people who are living in an “obese” state, or who are not physically active, often don’t feel the need to change either of those situations.
Do you think you need to change?
