BOWAworld

OWN IT!

by Val Leichtman

Renting: I spilled grape juice on the carpet. I called the landlord and I changed apartments. My dog stained the wall with pee. I called the landlord and changed apartments. My drunken friends trashed the inside of the apartment. I called the landlord and changed apartments.

Owning: I spilled grape juice on my carpet. I spent two hours deep cleaning my carpet and made a personal rule of no more grape juice in my living room. My dog stained the wall with pee. I cleaned and repainted the wall and hired a dog trainer. My drunken friends started to trash my home, I stopped the situation before it got out of hand and gave them a place to sleep it off.
—
“If my life is for rent and I don’t learn to buy, I deserve nothing more than I get, cause nothing I have is truly mine.” This is from one of my favorite songs by Dido called “Life for Rent.” So many of us, especially when we’re younger have a “renting” outlook on our lives. We take a lot of things for granted and we don’t worry about a lot of the consequences. There’s nothing wrong with this, but until we learn to start taking true ownership of our lives, we won’t get anything but what we’re given from life.

I’m not 100% sure what it means to own my life yet. And, I’m really not 100% sure what I want I yet. I do know that I want to be treated like an adult, which means I must start acting like an adult. It means I must pay my own bills, both literal and figuratively. At this point in my life, I am blessed with numerous people who love and care about me, and I am lucky enough that many of them would come running if I called them and would help me clean up any mess I get myself into. However, I’m at a point in my life where I no longer want to depend on other people to clean up my messes. I want to take full responsibility for myself. I am ready to be my life’s own landlord.

Now, it’s time to go take down that “For Rent” sign in the front of my life . . .