Photo prompt #4: Use ten objects to illustrate how much of your current situation you attribute to your actions and how much to the economy. On the left: your actions; on the right: the economy.

I have to believe that I am responsible for my own situation. Otherwise I would have no power or desire to change it.

Inherently, the answer to the question is: both. But nothing is going to change for me if I blame my situation on factors over which I have no control.

On November 6th, I voted for a man who I think cares about people like me and my family. But other than that, I have no hand in the economy or any factor that may have dealt my generation such a poor hand.

It’s a question like this — and the almost constant encouragement to find something more steady — that make me realize that I create my own circumstance.

I’m sorry to be brief, but the government doesn’t get me to work nor budget my money. So I would be hard pressed to give them credit for my successes or blame them for my hardships.