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My most controversial tweet ever.
I’m not saying you can’t watch Netflix.
I’m not saying you can’t scroll social media.
What I am saying is:
You might not be in control of your own life.
What I am saying is:
People are a result of their daily habits.
I survived.
I crossed off another day on the calendar.
Bright red marker.
One day closer to heading home.
I was alone.
I was distraught.
I was a failure.
You will feel this at some point in your life.
I felt it at college.
I blamed everyone for the situation I was in.
If only the coaches liked me it would be different.
If I had different teammates I would be succeeding.
If that and if this…
Things would be different if…
My pride was a powerful thing.
I made up lie after lie after lie to protect myself.
And I believed them all.
This wasn’t the first time my life had led to this point.
3 years earlier the same situation occurred.
My time at the Australian Institute of Sport ended the same way.
I took no accountability for my situation then either.
Life repeats itself until you learn the lesson it is trying to teach you.
Every time I blamed someone or something else for my misery, the same result occurred.
It took away all control of my life.
If it’s everyone else’s fault, there's nothing I can do to fix it.
I was weak, powerless, and afraid.
My life doesn’t look like that anymore.
So what changed?
The first step was taking accountability.
Yes, I tried my best.
But I lacked awareness.
My lack of awareness led to poor habits.
My poor habits created my reality.
This was tough to fathom.
My misery was self-imposed.
But.
With time I forgave myself.
You don't know what you don't know.
And once I was ready to jump back on the saddle and keep going, I knew, only I could hold myself back.
That is powerful.
Now, of course, events completely out of your control will happen to you.
Injury.
Sickness.
Accidents.
Natural disasters.
People who are out to get you.
We cannot take accountability for those events.
But.
You can take accountability for how you respond.
The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a Stoic philosopher, knew this better than most.
As Marcus prepared a military campaign, his trusted advisor and good friend led a rebellion against him.
Marcus wrote about such event in his famous journal 'Meditations':
He should not be surprised by such events, as they are part of the natural order. He acknowledged that he could not control the actions of others, but he could control how he chose to respond.
This is Marcus taking back control over his life.
He does not blame others.
He does not make excuses.
He takes accountability for his situation.
He does what he needs to keep moving forward.
This is accountability.
My tweet offended people.
I am not sorry.
But, maybe I am wrong about accountability.
Maybe none of us are in control.
Maybe those offended people are right.
Maybe you should aimlessly walk around all day blaming everything else but yourself for your lack of success.
I refuse to do that.
Join me in taking accountability for your situation.
Because I know one thing for sure.
It gave Marcus Aurelius power over his life.
And it helped save my own.