Do You Rent or Own Your Life?

I have friends and family who have had rentals. Back in the early days of my life, I rented. I had to, I couldn't afford to own a home. The one thing I have learned about rentals is that people do not always take good care of their rental property. Rental properties get treated like they are incidental, as if they do not matter. Not always, but sometimes. My home is my castle, so as a renter I always treated it like my own. I cleaned it and decorated it and loved it. When I left any rental, I usually left it cleaner than when I first arrived. Not a pat on the back...just a fact.

I am sure you are wondering what renting v owning has to do with communication? Because I am always thinking in symbolic language, it dawned on me that sometimes in my life, I treated my life as if I was renting it, not owning it. It has such a different mentality, when you own your life. It makes a space to say what you mean and mean what you say. The perspective of the choices you make and the emotions emoted come from clarity when you own your life...at least for me it does. When I take ownership of my life, I treat it differently. I treat others differently. I invite people into my life, as I would my home, who will respect it and be thoughtful of it. I would never have someone in my home who put out their cigarette butts on my floor. So why would I let someone in my life who puts out psychic cigarettes on my heart or soul? And why, oh why, would I not treat another person's life with the same due respect?

When I own my life, I also take 100% responsibility for my life. The choices I make, the emotions I expose and share with others, how I learn my lessons...not just from my own mistakes but from observing another person's challenges. I am learning to dust off the good things, throw out the bad, and maybe throw in a little color here and there. A good book, an inspirational idea or thought, a belly laugh or the grace to appreciate the little things, and to know God. Owning my life allows me to add on to it, down size it, or even just paint it a different color or a shade of the same color. In a world that defines land ownership as the ultimate goal of life, owning your life seems to have so much more value!