Don’t Confuse Responsibility with Perfection.

I’ve had another revelation.

This may seem obvious to some.

Yesterday, as I was cleaning my dishes after making breakfast, I was thinking and thinking like I usually do, and this thought was highlighted in my mind — don’t confuse responsibility with perfection.

Right away, I knew I had to write a blog about it and rushed to write it down somewhere so I wouldn’t forget it.

Throughout the day, my thoughts circled back to this, and I realized for a good chunk of my life, I confused being responsible with being perfect.

I probably still do sometimes, but it’s better to recognize this later than never.

When you’re responsible, people assume you’ve always got it together.

I used to think this, too, at one point.

I thought that if you were responsible, your life would be nice and organized, and nothing would ever be out of place.

But now that I’ve lived independently for almost two years, I realize that no one always has it together.

We all simply do our best, and sometimes, even our best isn’t enough to keep everything together.

I realized this when I quit my bartending side job after being recently laid off and living in my new apartment for about a month and a half.

I decided to part ways with that job because there was too much drama, and I no longer wanted to be a part of it.

Was it a wise decision to quit the only job I had at the time? No. But was it the best decision for me and my future? Yes.

Fortunately, a week after quitting that job, I was referred to a restaurant that was looking for a full-time bartender.

I’ve been working as a bartender/server full-time, and I haven’t suffered any financial scares since.

But even though I was responsible and doing my best to keep things as organized as possible, life still happened, and I had to make some tough choices that temporarily put me in very vulnerable positions.

Moral of the story, just because someone is responsible doesn’t mean they always got it together.

Life doesn’t discriminate. It happens, the good and the bad, to every single one of us.

Being responsible just makes it less stressful.

When you’re responsible, people assume you don’t make mistakes.

This was a doozy for me, and I had a tough time learning this lesson in the past few years, but I’m finally on the other side now (I believe).

I grew up under the assumption that if you’re organized and responsible somehow, that equates to you not making mistakes.

I know; it makes no sense. But that’s what I assumed growing up.

For a good chunk of my life, I thought mistakes were supposed to be avoided like the plague.

It wasn’t until I moved out (and continued writing on Medium) that I learned mistakes are how you learn what works and what doesn’t.

And also, they are not as detrimental as I thought.

I made plenty of mistakes when I first moved out. I didn’t know what day the garbage or recycling truck came.

I didn’t know how to change my address. I didn’t know how so many things worked then, and I could only learn them by making mistakes.

Now, I don’t view mistakes as a life-or-death type of situation.

They are a part of life, just like anything else.

What does frustrate me is the assumption that if someone is responsible, somehow, they should be incapable of making mistakes.

Have you seen in movies or TV shows how responsible, organized people are made fun of, and people assume they have a holier-than-thou attitude?

Yeah, that’s not the case at all.

People who choose to be organized and responsible are just as human and make as many mistakes.

More often than not, though, they are the kind of people who will look for a solution right away, and that’s probably why you don’t hear someone like that constantly complaining.

Responsible people tend to be solution-oriented but don’t make the mistake of thinking they don’t make mistakes.

We do, and plenty.

When you’re responsible, people assume you’re always okay.

This is another mistake I made growing up (how ironic).

Since I thought responsible people don’t make mistakes, that must mean they are always okay because things are always okay.

But as I said earlier, life doesn’t discriminate.

The good and the bad happen to all of us.

That means difficult situations, arguments, financial problems, emotional problems, etc.

Just because you’re responsible, solution-oriented, and organized doesn’t mean you’re supposed to always be okay.

Some days are rougher than others.

Some days, we’re tired; some days, we’re out of it. Some days, for reasons even unknown to ourselves, we’re sad and frustrated.

That’s just what happens when you’re human.

Emotions don’t discriminate, either.

Just because someone appears to have it together, because they are organized and responsible, it doesn’t mean they are always okay or that nothing bad or frustrating happens to them.

It does.

Perhaps we’re better at handling it because we are responsible and organized.

But that doesn’t mean things don’t get to us or make us feel a certain way.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking someone responsible doesn’t suffer.

We do.

We’re all simply human.