In this recent post I made the case that you have a strong influence on the things that happen in your life, and the few you don’t contribute to is shockingly miniscule. Most people get defensive at that statement and immediately jump to some exception to argue against it. (Like a random meteorite landing on your garage.) This is a bad premise and an extremely harmful life strategy, because there are almost always outlier exceptions to everything. More importantly, by making this argument you’re refusing to accept responsibility for your life. The logical conclusion to this line of thinking takes you to outlandish assumptions like, “I can’t control that an earthquake killed innocent people, so it’s not my fault that I am emotionally abusive to my spouse.”
