The biggest lie you ever told yourself (and also told others)
This could change your life, but it probably won’t

I have / had no choice.
This phrase is the biggest load of crap ever. You always have a choice. Pretty much anytime I hear someone say they have no choice, what they actually should be saying is “the alternative is less acceptable than this.”
I spent the end of 2016 right through the start of 2017 stuck in a place full of addicts with no internet or phones. I heard people say they came to rehab because they had no choice. BS. You could have chosen not to come.
“But I was court mandated,” you say. Still, you had a choice. “If I didn’t come here, I’d go to jail.” So your choice was rehab or jail and you chose rehab. I salute you, sir, for making the right choice.
“My wife/husband/mother/cousin/dog made me do it.” So you had a choice between doing what that person wanted you to do or not doing it and accepting whatever repercussions come along with that. Wife leaving you, parents disowning you, dog shitting on your carpet, whatever. And since you decided to come here, I’m assuming that you’re not ready and willing to face the consequences of not coming here. Well played, good sir.
Don’t ever give me this I had no choice nonsense. For starters, it’s a lie. And it’s juvenile. We’re all adults here. And as an adult, you should know. Life is full of choices. Not all are good. Sometimes it’s a choice between day old garbage and week old garbage. So you take the day old and hope you don’t die. And the alternative to that, of course, is to die. Staying alive is a choice. You’re not alive because you had no choice. True, you didn’t choose to be born. But you choose to live. Everyday, you choose. You could die. Or you could live. You made your choice. Now accept it. Own it. Be proud you made the right choice. Or else, realize you made the wrong choice, turn your ass around, and make the right one this time. So long as you’re still breathing, you are still capable of making choices.
Even if/when someone holds a gun to your head, it’s still up to you. Do what the person holding the gun tells you to do. Or risk getting shot in the head. It might not be the best of choices. It’s still a choice.
If you genuinely believe you don’t have a choice in something, you’re clearly not paying attention. And that, my friend, is also a choice. Choose to pay attention. And pay attention to what you choose.