Ownership

The word “ownership” is something that can be taken multiple ways. I have had this subject on my mind for a while, and it seemed to want to pervade my thoughts last night as I was trying to fall asleep.

We can own many things in life. In simple thinking one might be drawn to think about ownership in materialistic terms. Moving beyond objects that manifest themselves in our lives physically, we can attribute this thought pattern to our lives in a much larger sense.

There have been many instances in my life where I have been in situations or made decisions where ownership was lacking. I have felt the effects of my shortcomings, as well as the shortcomings of others in this area. In reflecting on each of those memories there is a feeling of disconnection present on some level in all of them. In not taking ownership of your life and all that it contains, you in a way sit on the sidelines calling the shots but not fully immersing yourself in the experiences that become of your choices. The experiences themselves are as important as the raw results gained by your decisions.

On my behalf – lack of ownership has landed me in debt, failing relationships that continued long past their expiration date, blurred boundaries with key people in my life, in jobs that have met my basic needs but never pushed me further, and countless other spectatorship like ways of living that perpetuated the cycle. As I stated before, I have witnessed this behavior in others which affected me, but in the end it all comes back to my lack of ownership in my life that made it possible for those situations to even exist in the first place. Ownership requires taking responsibility, but to a much higher level...

I think that there is a distinct difference in responsibility and ownership. When someone is responsible for something it requires that they are dependable and reliable to get said thing taken care of, attending to the implied needs. I will not argue that ownership requires responsibility, but I will say that it requires more than just that. It requires pride and a personal sense of importance to what is being attended to. It requires the self to give the given situation one hundred percent as it is now part of them as an integral part – whether ownership stays permanent or not - is not of importance in the moment. It is about giving your best, to the situation, yourself, and your unfolding life.