The Hardest Thing To Do

Taking responsibility for a mistake. Sometimes, we do not know we made a mistake. At other times, it is obvious that we made a mistake. Eventually, we learn to admit that we made a mistake. However, admitting that we made a mistake is not the same as taking responsibility for that mistake.

Admitting that you did wrong is acknowledging that you are not perfect. This is the right step towards freeing yourself from the shackles of perfectionism. However, this is not the hardest thing to do.

John F. Kennedy admitted that he made a mistake. He also took responsibility for that mistake. The public loved him for the fact that he took responsibility for a big mistake he made. For the time he was alive, John F. Kennedy proved to be an effective and charismatic president. To this day, we remember him from his saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

It is a lot easier to point fingers and accuse others. Taking responsibility for something you did is the hardest thing to do. I am fully aware that there are other hard things to do such as going vegetarian–or the opposite: going from vegetarian to eating meat. However, the option to take responsibility commonly gets presented but rarely gets implemented.

The easier, safer, and ‘better’ option is to play the blame game or at least not take responsibility for a mistake. However, the people who take responsibility for their mistakes are the ones who win respect, and in John F. Kennedy’s case, taking responsibility for a big mistake won him nationwide respect.