Struggle

I think people find a sense of security in "struggle". If their situation hasn't allowed them to excel and break free into a better reality, they think that's all they'll know and they learn to be fine with that. As if someone or something else holding them down is excuse enough to stop trying to attain better. Like, if something else is holding you back, you can't be faulted for not moving foward. That seems to be the way of thinking. You have to get to a point where you can be mature enough to take FULL responsibility for the actions that have led you nowhere. Because when you acknowledge that what you did either set you back (from moving forward) or kept you in the same place, you can put that out of your mind and move on to your next effort in getting ahead. Now I'm not sure where the problem starts with people, whether it's learning to take full responsibility or not knowing the next step to take, or just something else. But in taking full responsibility for your actions, you take away any thoughts that someone or something else prevented you from moving forward. Which only leaves yourself to look at to see where you went wrong and where your room for improvement is. When I wouldn't take full responsibility for my actions I would acknowledge to a certain extent what I did wrong, but I would still play the victim and pass the blame. When I did that, I never really learned how to move forward through those situations because I was hindering my chance to learn how to fix my own problems and better the situation, by not even seeing that I was standing in my own way. Just because you take the necessary steps to move forward doesn't always mean that you'll know exactly what to do to move forward. After all, even Einstein had to go through trial and error. Taking on the next step doesn't always happen in one smooth motion, it takes time. Sometimes you have to fall all the way back to square one before figuring out what the next best move is. Yes, that's all apart of the struggle, but dont let that define your struggle. Beat the struggle. Do it by not letting setback after setback make you think that's where it's ok to be. When there's a will, there's a way. Now if you know what actions don't work, because you took responsibility for them, then eventually you have to come across the right actions. To belabor the point a little bit more, if you refuse to acknowledge your downfalls and simply blame it on the struggle (your situations) or people holding you back, it'll be much easier for you to get stuck in the mindset that you can only do so much to help yourself and that you're not in control. When you fall into this way of thinking you let your struggles define who you are and what situations you "have" to be in. Once you have acknowledged what doesn't work all you have room for is more ideas that will sometimes fail, but be more likely to succeed. If you're not moving forward in the direction you want, never blame your situation. It's not the cards you're dealt, but how you play them. Learn to use your struggles as a way to move forward, whether it's simply through motivation or inspiration, instead of letting it continually bring you down to the same low point. There's no security in struggling because of someone or something else stopping you. If you are in your situation long enough and have not learned at least one way to get ahead, whether you're able to act on it yet or not, you are the only person at fault. It's your life, so when you're ready to get ahead, you'll figure out and do what it takes to do so.