6 Signs You Have Control Over Your Life
Do you feel like you’re in control of your life? It’s common to feel as though you aren’t, but many people don’t realise how much control they have over their life until someone else points it out. We’ve all been there – suffering from a bit of imposter syndrome needlessly. You need to know what clues to look out for when determining whether you’re in control of your life.
Empowerment
One of the key signs of having control over your life is empowerment. It allows you to make crucial decisions and fuels you to take positive action to achieve your goals and improve your life. It’s impossible to control your life without a sense of empowerment.
Because a significant aspect of empowerment is taking control of your life, it’s something you can actively work on to help you improve and maintain the control you already have over your life.
Autonomy
Autonomy is right behind empowerment in terms of control over your life’s importance. Autonomy provides you with a sense of control and freedom. A lack of autonomy or low levels of autonomy can fuel feelings of helplessness and depression.
If you have control of your life, you likely feel a strong sense of autonomy. It drives involvement, fuels innovation, and having a strong sense of autonomy can increase your job and overall life satisfaction.
Respect
When you interact with people who control their lives, you feel respected. They might seek your advice but don’t rely on you so heavily that you feel used or disrespected. That’s because they respect you enough not to take advantage of your time and emotional labour.
Friends rely on friends but don’t take advantage of them when respect is present. You don’t let other people draw you into their funk, you don’t feel like a doormat, and you don’t feel put upon.
You Stand Up For Yourself
You might feel like people regularly steal your voice when you’re not in control. You get shouted down when you try to speak, or you feel concerned about standing up for yourself. You aren’t afraid to stand up for yourself when you’re in control. You will set boundaries, enforce them, and speak up for yourself when you feel unheard or wronged. You are the only person who sets the rules of engagement, and when you’re in control, you handle it.
Your life feels like it has a purpose
When you lack control over your life, it can feel purposeless. But for someone who feels in total control over their life, they feel like their life has meaning. If you feel like your life counts for something and have a direction to follow, then you probably feel like your life has a purpose.
And that suggests you are in control of your life. When someone is in touch with themselves or takes steps to reconnect, they realise what lights their fire and what they feel passionate about, which helps identify where they can find meaning.
You Feel Energized
Feeling a bit tired, physically or mentally, at the end of a busy day or week is a normal human reaction. But people with no control over their life often feel lethargic, and it’s not just at the end of the day.
It doesn’t seem to matter how much rest or relaxation they get; they can’t do anything to boost their energy. They’ve lost their spark. People in control have the opposite experience – they feel energised. Yes, they experience exhaustion like others, but they rest and feel ready to go every morning.
