They drift through life reacting to the actions of others instead of taking steps on their own behalf. Such people are like rudderless boats on the ocean, completely at the mercy of the tides to take them wherever they will. People who don t know where they are going usually end up where they don t want to be. In the case of a boat on the sea, sooner or later the shifting currents will run it aground or break it upon the rocks. Most people would agree that it would be much better if someone steered the boat past the danger and out into clear waters instead.
People are just the same.
If we don t take control of the direction our lives will take we leave ourselves to the mercy of others, often with disastrous consequences. Of course most people understand this idea, at least intellectually or as it applies to other people. It s applying the same principle to our own lives that causes the problems for many of us. The difficulty is that it often feels easier to leave all the decisions to someone or something else. If we can make another person responsible for our situation or our circumstances then somehow we can be happy without having to make any effort.