One of the biggest problems in society today is that many people do not want to take responsibility for their lives. They want quick fixes. In many ways, our culture has trained people to believe that if they have problems, someone else is responsible. Their parents are responsible. Their spouses are responsible. Their schools or employers are responsible. The company that made the cigarettes or vehicle or junk food is responsible.
I think this passive mentality is dangerous. Maybe some people’s parents did feed them a lot of junk food when they were young or never encouraged them to exercise. Maybe a person does have a genetic predisposition to store fat more than the average individual. Maybe some people do have 60-hour-a-week jobs with long commutes that allow little time to prepare home-cooked meals. If any of these kinds of things apply to your life, the key to victory is to make the best you can out of them.
I am not saying you are completely responsible for the current state of your life. Lots of uncontrollable things happen to people. Sometimes we do get very bad training in childhood. Sometimes we have bad people in our lives and they hurt us. The circumstances in which you find yourself may or may not be your fault. But if you take these things lying down and do not try to make the best of them or rise above them, that is your fault. You do not have to stay in a bad situation. You get to make a choice, and that choice is 100% yours.
No matter how you got to the situation in which you find yourself today, don’t let it be an excuse to stay there. I had many excuses and reasons for my poor health, bad attitude, and unbalanced life. As long as I made excuses, I never made progress. If you want to make progress and move beyond your current reality, believe you can do it and start taking action.
Taking responsibility for where we are is a must in making progress. Shifting blame keeps us trapped. It may put off a little guilt in the short term, but in the long run it just prolongs our misery. Determine today that you will take responsibility for your life and for the choices you make from now on. That’s the best way to bring about the necessary changes and improvements you need in your life.
Life would be so much easier if God had not given us free will. We could wander through our days like robots, eating the fruit that falls into our hands and waiting for the next thing to happen to us. But God does give us free will, which offers both tremendous responsibility and the possibility of total joy and fulfillment.
God will give you all the tools you need on Earth to reach spiritual completion. But it’s up to you to take up those tools and put them to work restoring your health and renovating His temple (your body) for Him. He can make it as easy on you as possible—and in writing this book I have tried to help by giving you some useful information, guidance, and tips—but He can’t do the work for you. The work is an essential part of the fulfillment, a necessary part of the process of freeing your soul from bondage. When you are in the depths of self-pity, free will can feel awful, like a pressure and responsibility you just don’t want. But once you make the commitment to maintain your body and soul as you should, to be a person of excellence and power, you discover that free will is your most valuable possession.
This is why it is so important to take responsibility for your life and avoid self-pity at all costs. Self-pity is an emotion that feeds on itself and steals your power. You need power to become the person you are meant to be, and you cannot be pitiful and powerful at the same time. I had a major problem with self-pity in my earlier years, and I did not start making progress until I stopped feeling sorry for myself.
We feel better about ourselves when we approach life boldly, ready to be accountable and responsible. You don’t have to hide from anything. You can do whatever you need to do in life. You can look healthy and attractive. You can feel great inside and out. You can live a life that keeps you fit and happy into old age. It’s all up to you. Through God you are ready for anything. Confront your life head on and never turn back!
Thus far I have suggested five options for implementing each of the 12 keys to good health and full enjoyment of your life. In this chapter, I’m not going to offer five ways. When it comes to taking responsibility for your own life, there is only one way to do it. The time has come to be very honest with yourself and with God. You either do it or you don’t. Using everything you have learned in this book, you can easily break your old habits and begin the process of transforming your life. Make the decision to do so. When you have a moment of privacy, take a deep breath, clear your head, and repeat this phrase:
“I am responsible for my own life. No one can take charge of it but me. If I am unhappy or unhealthy, I know I have the power to change that. I have all the help and knowledge I need, and with God’s help today I start becoming the person of excellence I have always known I can be.”
Congratulations. Thanks for taking this journey with me, and blessings on you for the exciting and wonderful future that is just beginning for you.
Choose to take responsibility for your life and for your health. Write your decision down, commit to it, and start today.