Power: The Responsibility of Choice
Sep 19, 2026
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An Existential Excavation
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Hope.
Faith.
Belief.
These are wonderful attributes of the human spirit. They enable us to create our most profound moments, and to persevere through difficult times. They inspire our greatest achievements; our most significant accomplishments.
But they are not to be confused with knowledge.
The world is a matrix of variables. There are mechanisms and causes we can’t understand. Questions we don’t even know to ask. Situations that cause us to speculate and hypothesize when we can’t know.
And there are facts, information we have observed—experienced—to be consistent in all situations and conditions: unconditional truth.
- Gravity acts on all physical items in every natural environment on Earth. Drop your fork, and it tends to fall to the ground, every time.
- In a closed system, entropy increases over time.
- You possess some form of consciousness that allows you to read—or hear—these words.
These phenomena occur regardless of your gender, creed, socioeconomic status, race, age, or any other personal characteristics.
We have no agency over these parameters; they are external to us. They operate without exception, whether or not they are in line with our desires and intentions; our hopes, faith and beliefs.
The fact of our existence also contains an unconditional truth:
- Everything born eventually dies.
Even you.
The realm of human existence is constrained by facts external to us. We don’t choose our biological parents, the unique construction of our DNA, the time, place or circumstances of our birth.
We’re not responsible for the fact that we exist at all.
But, while we don’t design the parameters of our creation, neither are we powerless.
We have the ability to make decisions that influence the quality of our lives, irrespective of the conditions and circumstances in which we find ourselves.
The first decision—to be responsible for your life—is foundational to all other decisions.
When you take responsibility, you internalize the locus of control over that which can be controlled.
Importantly, this first-principle decision moves you from passenger to driver; from victimhood to agency.
This is the source of your personal power.
Your eye color was genetically predetermined, but you can decide to wear contacts to change your appearance.
You didn’t dictate the city of your birth, but you can decide to move.
The concept is not restricted to inheritance: you have the ability to take responsibility for—and thereby some degree of agency over—many factors that shape the tone of your life.
You can choose a career path, gain competency in that field, and later change to something completely different.
Or you can choose the path of no path and live opportunistically, moving from experience to experience with no preset plan.
You can decide to pay attention to your physical health, to mitigate the chances of future pain and infirmity.
Or you can pick immediate physical satiation over future well-being and hope for the best.
The choices are many and far-reaching in implication: fiscal responsibility versus immediate gratification; committed relationships as opposed to casual “hookups” of convenience; the list goes on.
When you choose to surround yourself with optimistic, self-directed people, your own life moves toward focus and action; gratitude and happiness.
Here’s the thing: once you understand and get past the psychological concept of imaginary audience, where you think everyone is watching and judging you, you will find that most people are paying far less attention to you than you imagine. They are preoccupied with how they appear to everyone else.
You are free to make whatever decision suits your whim.
I would encourage two parameters as guidelines:
First: what decision will best ensure your freedom?
Will time spent learning a trade now allow more financial latitude in the future? What are the future implications of acquiescing to “shiny new thing” syndrome? Should you just rob that liquor store when you need some cash (they have insurance, after all)?
Second: what meaning have you chosen for your life?
Purpose is not predetermined; a single, hidden treasure to be discovered. It is a gift you give yourself.
People with a sense of life-meaning larger than themselves report that they are happier, tend to be more resilient to life’s inevitable tragedies, are more likely to be mentally and physically healthier, and actually live longer on the whole than those who don’t exercise the power of their choice.
There is no reason to be here.
You must decide what your reason is.
There is no preset purpose for your existence.
You must assign a purpose for your life.
No one is coming to save you.
You must do your best to create your world.
When you take what we know, and consider our ability to choose, the result is that we have power through responsibility.
No matter how you may have been influenced and conditioned to think, you have the power to choose the way you view and react to the world, even when you don’t control what the world does.
You are stronger—and far more capable—than you think.
Read my recent interview with Dr. Mehmet Yildiz here.
My novel, The Calling is available now in print and as an eBook.
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β¨β¨To learn more about how to use these concepts or to inquire about working with me, visit the Jeff W Welsh website, subscribe to my Substack or Medium accounts or the Hardcore Happiness blog page, and follow my Instagram account for regular insights.
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- JWW
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