How to Reclaim Your Power in a Culture of Excuses

We are living in the most prosperous times the world has ever known. Unprecedented access to clean water, plumbing, energy, and transportation characterizes our daily lives. Profound knowledge is just one swipe away. We can communicate with our peers instantly. Fewer people suffer from hunger than from obesity. Human civilization is more advanced than it ever was.

In spite of this unparalleled prosperity, many feel as though they’re suffering, and complaints are the only solution. “Eat the rich” invokes a familiar scapegoat. Claims of systemic racism and sexism have seen a resurgence in the last decade. Recently, the idea of big companies intentionally attacking the health of individuals has gained popularity.

Opportunities are more evenly distributed than ever. Each individual has more options than ever before. Yet, a whisper is going around: “You cannot do anything. You are not responsible. Someone else should fix this.”

Needless to say, many problems persist: conscription, coerced medical treatments, and a host of others. Life is by no means perfect. Nonetheless, individuals today have unprecedented opportunities to tread their own path. Individual responsibility means taking charge of exactly that—your actions, your choices, your life.

You can’t control (or even influence) the vast majority of external events at any given moment. Your power lies in focusing on what you can shape. Marcus Aurelius, the most powerful man of his era, captures this in a rigorous command to himself: “Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbors, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. Be occupied then with what you really can do.”

Individuals control their decisions. Your decisions lead to your position in life. “Society,” “the patriarchy,” “class structure,” and other such bugbears are not responsible for your situation—you are.

This realization is incredibly liberating. Once you realize this, your path clears. You see which actions you can take to manifest the future you desire.

Two and a half centuries ago, British settlers were none too happy with the decrees of the Crown. Years of mounting discontent culminated in the Boston Tea Party. Rather than endlessly complain about their treatment, they sparked a revolution that gave rise to the most powerful nation on planet Earth.

A more tragic historic example emerged in late Nazi Germany. Austrian Jew Viktor Frankl, a renowned psychiatrist, was deported to a concentration camp. Apart from fleeing the country earlier, there was little he could have done to prevent this dire fate. Against staggering odds, Frankl survived. In Man’s Search for Meaning, he describes his time in captivity. His accounts are unfathomable.

Yet, he narrates his ordeal with clinical objectivity and philosophical depth. Frankl embodies the very essence of his psychological insight into the human psyche: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” Frankl took responsibility for his behavior in a situation of continued suffering imposed by others.

And yet people complain about the temperature of their coffee?

Reinforced victimhood, dependency on handouts, blame-shifting—can you feel the lack of individuals taking responsibility? Children learn helplessness. “Someone somewhere needs to fix this!” cry the entitled. Individual responsibility is the antidote.

“Systemic racism,” “sexism,” or “ableism” serve as a widespread excuse to avoid owning one’s actions. However, this behavior is not limited to one side of the political aisle. “Big Food” is profit-driven and largely indifferent to your health—granted. Anyone who understands human incentives understands that. But you can’t just blame “socially irresponsible CEOs” and continue buying their products.

Instead, there’s a straightforward way to improve your health: Stop buying ultra-processed, chemical-laden slop. Choose real food. Make better choices for yourself. Help your loved ones do the same. If you care deeply, start a campaign demonstrating the real effects of harmful ingredients and give people a reason to opt out. But ranting about “greed-fueled magnates” while demanding stricter regulation is hardly different from babbling about systemic whatever.

Individuals who avoid responsibility form a culture that breeds resentment, entitlement, and decay. “Someone somewhere needs to fix this!” won’t cut it. Great civilizations are characterized by people aiming upward. By people facing their problems themselves. Bodily autonomy gives you the freedom to make your own decisions about your physical being. This, however, is not optional. You have the freedom and the obligation to tread your path. No one can do it for you.

In T.S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party, Celia struggles with emotional turmoil and a troubled marriage and seeks the help of a psychiatrist: “I must tell you that I should really like to think there’s something wrong with me—Because, if there isn’t, then there’s something wrong with the world itself—and that’s much more frightening! That would be terrible. So I’d rather believe there is something wrong with me, that could be put right.”

At its core, we face a choice: Confront life’s struggles as challenges we can master or surrender as their victims. Who do you want to be in control of your life? Authorities, officials, and experts? Can you remember any situation in world history where power was abused? What could possibly go wrong?

Those who choose freedom, and the responsibility that comes with it, will have the adventure of their lives. Hence, whatever life throws your way, meet it with resolve. Start with small steps: Clean your own mess, speak the truth, keep your promises. Struggle upward. Seize the opportunities offered to you. Stop doing what you know to be wrong.

Put your mind in order. Put your house in order. As Jordan Peterson proclaims: “Blaming others for your problems is a complete waste of time…Other people aren’t the problem. You’re the problem. You can’t change other people, but you can change yourself.” So stop wasting your time.

This isn’t a call against expressing criticism. After all, how can we fix a problem if we refuse to name it? It means that criticizing constructively is the way. Name the problem—and then go fix it.

In every situation, we stand at a crossroads anew. Do we passively follow the path well trodden—the path of blaming and complaining, the path that leads to perpetual dependence? Or do we actively choose the route less travelled and more demanding—the route of taking individual responsibility, the route that leads to liberation and lasting growth?

To the lazy freeloader, owning one’s actions sounds like punishment. To the industrious go-getter, it presents an inviting avenue. Once you take personal responsibility for the situation you find yourself in, you gain the power to create your life according to your own vision.

You are not a pawn; you are the author of your story. Your life is yours alone. Choosing individual responsibility is the way to a healthier, more meaningful life. Your body, your choice!