If you really want to manage stress and take charge of your life, you need to take full responsibility for it. All of it.

You need to take full ownership of you, and of how you are responding to whatever life brings your way.

That doesn’t mean that you are totally immune from the external experiences, but it does mean that YOU are totally responsible for what you are and how you behave.

Every single thought, word, choice, and action, takes time and effort and causes an effect. Every single one of them.

• Every thought you have.
• Every word you speak.
• Every choice you make.
• Every action you take.

Own them all.

The absolute brilliant, totally empowering thing about that is that if you don’t like the results they are bringing into your life then you are the one that has the power to change them. Any of them. All of them.

It’s one of the reasons I am so passionate about helping people to manage their stress. Because I know that when we are stressed our thoughts, words, choices, and actions often don’t come from the true loving, kind, and generous person that we truly are. They come from fear, and they come from pain, and most significantly they keep us on a loop of stress, not to mention the potential stress they cause in the world around us.

So, from this moment on choose to own your response to life. Don’t judge yourself and remember you are doing the best that you can, but own it all. Every single bit of it.

And if you don’t like what you find, then know that you can change it. Remember…this can change. You can change.

Yes!

If you are owning your thoughts, words, choices, and actions, then you can also own what you agree to do or not do with your time.

It can often feel like we don’t have control over our schedule, whether that is through work commitments, family obligations etc etc etc etc. BUT….pause for a moment. Whilst it seems like you don’t have a choice, you are making one. You choose to work because you choose to pay your bills, and there are many options should you choose not to do that – you just likely wouldn’t want to choose them. You choose to spend time with your family because of your beliefs around being family. You choose to go to that social event that you would rather not go to. You choose to spend time with those you love spending time with.

So, here’s the thing… before you say yes or no to anything, review whether that’s the choice you really want to make. Review whether what you are currently spending your time doing is the best way for you to spend your time.

There are no right or wrongs. There is just the choices you are making and the results they are bringing to you.