There’s a new trend happening.

Whenever something goes wrong or someone is in trouble, they pull a particular line ‘out of their hat’.

I’ve regularly seen it on the news when someone has been charged with killing or maiming another person.

I’ve seen it in workplace situations where a person is being told they are not performing to the satisfaction of the company.

The perpetrators seem to have this sentence down pat …

“I have mental health issues”.

For example …

“You can’t tell me off because I have mental health issues.”

“You can’t blame me for the accident because I have mental health issues.”

“I’m driving with the drug Ice in my system because I have mental health problems.”

I am regularly consulting with business owners who say they are sick of hearing some of their staff complain when asked to correct something that their mental health problem caused them to mess up. 

I’m sorry. If your mental health issues are so bad, maybe you shouldn’t be at work. If your mental health problems are to blame for you having an accident, you shouldn’t be driving a vehicle. 

Ironically, many of the people making this claim are not seeking professional help. 

Now, before you start yelling abuse at the screen, some people do have mental health issues. I’m fine with that. 

Hopefully, they are on medication and/or seeking professional help.

They will (hopefully) take ownership of their behaviour.

It’s easy to blame someone or something for the way we behave. Blame takes the spotlight off us and places it elsewhere. We then, somehow, believe we should not get into trouble.

Let’s start taking ownership for where we are in life.

Let’s examine our behaviour and identify how we can improve it.

Through doing this, we gain the benefit and others around us also gain the benefit.

Your challenge for this week: Eliminate blame. Whether it’s within a relationship, with family and friends or at work. Take ownership for what’s happening.

You’ve got this …