Responsibility is not about accepting blame. Responsibility is about recognizing that the power to change things around me rests solely in my ability to change myself.
After all, I’m the only person I can change. This thought leaves some people feeling disempowered. How can I have impact if I can’t change others?
The relief rests in one fact: We live in a relational world. We are effected by our interactions with others. When the people around me change, I adapt. This constitutes a change for me.
Which means whenever I change, I create change for others. I have changed their world and they adapt, which changes them.
I can withdraw from others or engage them. I can seek to inhibit others or find ways to inspire them. The choice of direction is mine. The choice of reaction is theirs. I cannot control the implications of this change, but they are no less awesome.
When I change myself… when I truly shift my perspective on how to approach life… I am literally changing the world!