Good or Bad, It’s Mine

I own it!

I’m the type of person… hold that thought. I WAS the type of person who gave credit to everyone except myself. I taught a great lesson — it was the teacher before me who gave me the lesson plan (to heck with the minor changes I made), I trained a really nice horse — it was the colt starter who put his first 30 days on him (to heck with the hours upon hours of time and patience I spent in his saddle), I won big at the barrel race — it was the riders I’d had the opportunity to ride under (to heck with the lessons I learned and the down right good riding I put in) who got ALL the credit.

Recently, with all the big changes in my world, I’ve come to the realization (after years of being told by so many) that I am the reason that anything happens in my life. Good or bad, it’s mine. I own it. As children we are taught (and as adults we teach children this as well) to own our decisions. When a child makes a bad choice, they are shown the steps to own up to that choice and do what is necessary to make it right. I’m no different. Even as an adult. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked into my principal’s office with my tail between my legs to own up to a poor decision I’ve made in the classroom, or had to backtrack because something I thought was a logical way to get the point across to a colt didn’t work. I, like the rest of you, am human. And humans make mistakes. The number one thing we’re taught is that mistakes are ok… IF you own them.

So, moving on to the point of this post. We’re taught to own our poor decisions… our failures if you will, so why aren’t we taught to own our successes as well? I know for a fact that I’m not the only person in the world who struggles… struggled… with owning my success. I know why I struggled… I never, ever want to let anyone who has impacted my path feel unappreciated. Clearly, I have felt this to the point of degrading my own self worth in order to ensure that everyone else feels appreciated. The biggest issue with this? Those people who have had the greatest impact on my biggest achievements are the ones who are most supportive of my successes. They are the cheerleaders that correct me when I’m so quick to give them all the credit.

I could go on for hours on this topic, but that would be beating a dead horse. I have had the pleasure of working with some great teachers, both in the arena and in the classroom… and celebrating my successes as my own does not take away from their contributions. But, the fact is, if I do the work, whatever happens, good or bad, it’s mine. I own it!