I GIVE THANKS FOR INDEPENDENCE
My first thought was, ‘we are born to develop into
independent adults,’ however this is only a partial truth! So let’s re-word
the statement more accurately. ‘I give thanks for the level of independence I have achieved
in my life.’
Now we have a statement that nearly everyone can relate to.
Everything is relative and independence relates to physical, emotional and
social factors. Sometimes people have physical or mental conditions which
effectively impose limitations upon their ability to exert independence and
these can be temporary or permanent. In reality, most of us suffer at times
with factors influencing our ability to be independent and the greatest of
these tends to be fear.
We need to be positive about our lives and willing to break
through barriers to achieve the level of independence that suits us. Of course,
no-one is totally independent unless they are living in total isolation- maybe
on a desert island! The fact is our world operates on mutual dependency through
relationships, commerce, education, scientific advances, the health service and
many smaller yet complex factors. Our level of independence also relates to the
number of dependents we have, income levels and opportunity. As always we need
to be thankful for what we have and identify how best to extend ourselves so
that we have even more to be thankful for.
We are so fortunate to live in a ‘free society.’ Yes there
are poverty traps yet how many millionaires have their roots in poverty? It is
their independent spirits that have enabled them to progress to higher levels
and those opportunities are available to everyone. What often contributes towards making a person
successful is their ability to overcome fear and strive towards their goals.
The more resourceful you are the more independent you can become.
Recognising progress is important as it spurs us on. Many things can deter us and this might include becoming dependent
upon our partners. We can be emotionally dependent, financially dependent and
in some cases lose our ability to make firm decisions. This is why it is so
important to know who we are and what we want in life. If you are strong in
yourself you will handle relationships very much better than people who are
unclear about themselves and their desires. This applies to friendships and
working relationships as well as family ties.
It is very good to develop independent thinking. This might
sound obvious but how many people just parrot other people’s views to you?
Sometimes people only have one side of the story or fail to understand the significance
of a situation, especially hot political topics. It’s very easy to be
brainwashed into a way of thinking if we do not do our own independent
research. As a rule, I prefer to plead ignorance as opposed to spouting a half
understood argument!
Being independent helps us to obtain peace of mind. If we
know what we do and why we are doing it we become accountable to ourselves
first and foremost. We may not always make good decisions but at least we know
why we made them! We are then in a position to analyse our efforts and effect
change. Having a great sense of independence and responsibility is the key to
becoming an adult as opposed to a child in an adults’ body. In summary, when
you can take full responsibility for your life you are living with mental
freedom and are in a position to orchestrate change-and that is the joy of being independent.
Jaz McKenzie
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