Responsibility

Responsibility is just a word, but it’s a big, heavy one when it comes to being an adult. Often, we think that we already “know” what it means to take responsibility. Maybe a lot of you do, but I found out first hand that I wasn’t as responsible as I thought I was, and these few months have been a journey to learn that there’s still some ways to go.

They say that maturity comes from the willingness to accept responsibility, and that is precisely what a lot of people are afraid to do. That sounds very cliché, but while many of us know this in our heads, knowing it in our actions and decisions is a whole other matter.

I’ve tried often to define what it is that can make me mature even further. Is it being bold to take action? Is it understanding and learning more? Is it the tenacity to push on? Is it experience and contemplation? I honestly don’t know… What I do know is that someone who is mature would decide to be bold when needed, to understand and keep an open mind, to keep holding on in difficult times, and to take life lessons as it comes, always growing from each decision and situation, especially over something that he/she is responsible for.

What does it mean to be responsible over something? I used to be very naive about it; Just because I was a “leader” executing does not make me a responsible person. True responsibility is when only a concept or general idea is provided, and we take it, run with it, and do WHATEVER it takes to make it succeed, and that’s the one thing I learnt pretty much the hard way.

See, it wasn’t the execution that made you responsible or mature. If you only worked within the framework that is clearly defined in every way for you, you are just another cog in the system of things. You may be the most efficient cog, but you are running based on somebody else’s design. The responsibility comes when you are given a blank space, and you need to fill up every single part to design and make something that works! That’s real responsibility!

It takes a lot of courage. You have to step out of the safety net and comfort zone. You have to force yourself to think in view of the full picture, because YOU are the safety net, and it is by default a failure unless you make it succeed! It can be a project, a task, a relationship, money, an object, or even an idea, and it all hangs on YOU!

So I’ve gotten my share of being corrected, but I must say it is absolutely important that we understand what it really means to take ownership of something! It is only when we are in that position, and have that thing succeed, that we feel the most fulfilled!

So am I there yet? Honestly I think there’s still a long way to go. But I rest in the knowledge that I’ve grown a little bit more, and I’d like to think I’ve matured because of this. I believe taking responsibility has made me more of a man than I was before, and that in itself is worth the challenges faced!