Sometimes when I sit down and write a blog, I think to myself, “This is going to be one of my favorites.” It is a feeling I have. When I sit down to write a blog, I often get motivated by topics that relate to something in my own life or by a thought or feeling I’m having.

Today’s blog was spurred by something that came up in a conversation I was having earlier. Someone used the term “I didn’t sign up for this.”

People will use this phrase about all manner of things in their life. They’ll say “I didn’t want to have a wife and three kids. I didn’t sign up for this” or “I really didn’t sign up for this job” or “How did I end up living in the frozen tundra of Wyoming. I didn’t sign up for this.”

The term “I didn’t sign up for this” almost feels like a victim term to me. Granted, life has its twists and turns and surprises. Aren’t we in control of our lives though? The term “I didn’t sign up for this” almost makes me feel like we are all just victims in our lives, and have no control over what happens to us.

People will sometimes use that term when they are in a relationship that is going sour. They will say “I didn’t sign up for this.” The truth is, though, that they did sign up for it.

You are a willful and willing participant in any relationship. You are also 50% the cause of that relationship going in the sour direction it is going.

So if you find yourself stuck in a life for which you think you didn’t sign up, you need to remember that you actually did sign up for it. You actually made the decisions that have guided your life. You make the moves that got you to where you are in your life.

Nobody forced you. Nobody dragged you kicking and screaming. So, in reality, you did sign up for whatever situation you find yourself in that is unsatisfying to you.

The real challenge is figuring out how you get out of these situations. Do you have the guts to get out of what you supposedly didn’t sign up for, or are you going to live your life in the “I didn’t sign up for this” victim mentality?

We have choices in life. To get out of a bad situation for which you didn’t sign up, it takes guts, strength and a lot of perseverance.

Do you have the strength to get out of situations of which you no longer want to be a part? We all have only one life to live, and we don’t know how long that life is going to be or when it will end.

So why remain in a situation for which you didn’t sign up (even though we know you actually did sign up for it)? The real question you should be asking yourself is, “Why am I signing up and staying in a situation in which I have no desire to be?”

Life is a gift. Time goes by really fast.

I can’t believe I will be 48 years old this year. If someone told me I’d be close to 50 years old, I’d say “I didn’t sign up for that!” I didn’t sign up for being close to 50 years old. How did that happen?