Taking Ownership

By Corinne Feight

I believe people are responsible for themselves. We all have to own up and take responsibility for our actions and words. At the end of the day, I don’t understand people who turn and place blame everyone else. This is not to discredit or disrespect those who have had to grow up in a world I cannot even imagine. Yet still, the past is a part of who we are, but it doesn’t have to be a part of who we become. I have known people who have been overcome with great stresses and commitments, and I have also known others who rise above it all and become a better person because of it. Who do you want to be?

I think the hardest thing we have to realize as college students is the fact that our life is now in our hands. Maybe for some of you, this was always the case. Each family is different, and I can only speak from my experience, but for the most part, college is the first time in our lives that we have had this complete responsibility. We don’t have anyone to worry about but ourselves. All of the decisions we make here are of our own volition. There is no one to tell us what to do, where to go, how to act. This is a great freedom that can be overwhelming and too tempting at times. Many students get caught up in the whirlwind that is college and forget the reasons why they are actually here. I stress this point to freshman specifically. Your freshman year is when you lay the foundation for the rest of your time here. You set up your GPA, you pick your major, and you begin to make networking connections. These seem like things that you may not have to worry about now, but the next four years will fly and you’ll look back, I guarantee you, and wish you had taken advantage of your earlier years. To me, I fully believe in accountability. Taking ownership of your own decisions is the most empowering and rewarding experience. It’s easy to push blame off on others—they are the reason you scored poorly on your midterms, they are the reason you didn’t make the cut to get into your major, they were the ones who forced you to go out to the bars the night before a big exam. Yet, ultimately, no one can make you do anything you don’t agree to or want to.

In the end, each person is responsible for his or her actions. The choices in our lives only fall back upon us. Yes, there are varying factors that influence these decisions, but your life is yours. Take advantage of it. What will you look back on in 10 years and be proud of? Don’t you want so many accomplishments it becomes hard to pick the best one?