The other day, I sat and listened to one of my friends complaining about his life and the way things were going for him.

He even went as far as to blame God for his misfortunes and exclaimed that God might even be torturing him on purpose.

What is even more hilarious is the fact that this particular friend doesn’t believe in God, but he found it justified in some manner to blame God for his life problems, as do many people.

Somehow, it has become easier for people to blame God and everyone around them for all their problems rather than step up and man responsibility of their own lives.

The truth is that we create our own path and whether you want to believe that God gives guidance along the road is personal belief, but one thing I’m sure he doesn’t do is make you veer off of your path.

God doesn’t control whether you choose to get up and go to work or stay at home and sleep risking your job.

He doesn’t choose whether you go out with this guy/girl or that guy/girl.

It is time for people to pave their own road, because, in reality, you already are and whether you want to pave a smooth surface or a rocky nightmare.

Well, that’s your choice and your choice only.

I myself recently began suffering from some form of anxiety or another and began experiencing panic attacks.

Never in my life have I had or experienced such a thing and it totally threw me off of my everyday lifestyle. Once I realized nothing was physically wrong with me and that I wasn’t alone in such a disorder, I began to take hold of the reigns and set my life back on the path that I wanted it to be on.

It was almost as if I was having a personal boxing match and as of now I’d like to think round one goes to me.

Still, I watch people around me make complaints rather than take action, or they self-medicate with tons of drugs and alcohol, but there are better ways to handle the situation, or whatever situation it might be, bringing you down or making your road a rocky one.

It is time that each and every individual realize the virtue of self-control. We control our own lives and almost all the happenings that occur within.

Like I said, every now and then life throws a curve ball or two, but in bigger respects, we have a tendency to put ourselves in those situations.

Reflect a bit, backtrack, find the time and place where life veered off course and fix it yourself with a good lifestyle change. Tons of drugs are not answers but rather a cloak to mask the problems at hand.

Besides I’m sure most of us enjoyed being a kid at some point and we didn’t need drugs then so try putting yourself back in that state of mind and win your own boxing match.

Julian Russell is a junior communication studies major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENopinions@gmail.com.