Alternate Perceptions Magazine, August 2026
Excuses Steal Your Freedom
By: Stan Prachniak, MBA
One bad habit many people develop is the habit of making excuses. Excuses are a way for people to feel comfortable with their mistakes, misgivings, and failures—they can often provide a form of emotional relief. Excuses offer us a way to protect our self-image without confronting difficult truths. There have likely been times in your life that you have used excuses to avoid responsibility for your own actions. You might have said things like, “I didn’t have enough time,” or, “if it weren’t for what (insert name here) did, I would have been able to do it.” Of course, there are external factors that affect what we are able to accomplish, but the way we analyze and respond to these things is up to us. Repeatedly using excuses to justify our actions, or inactions, can become a habit that keeps us stuck in the same patterns.
Placing blame works in a similar way to making excuses. When people consistently place responsibility for their happiness, success, or failures on others, they unknowingly surrender one of their greatest sources of power: the ability to choose their response. Blaming a boss, a partner, the economy, or one's past may offer temporary validation, but it also reinforces the belief that what happens in their life depends on someone else. The more power people assign to outside forces, the less they are able to recognize that they still have the freedom to choose their own decisions, attitudes, and actions.
True freedom begins when ownership of action starts. Reclaiming personal power does not require denying life's obstacles or pretending that circumstances are always fair. Instead, it means asking a different question. Rather than "Who's fault is this?" the more empowering question becomes, "What can I do from here?" This shift in perspective moves the focus of attention away from what cannot be controlled and toward what can be controlled—your actions. Small, intentional choices made consistently—learning a new skill, changing a habit, having a difficult conversation, or taking one courageous step forward—gradually build confidence and momentum.
Taking ownership of how you respond to life’s daily challenges is not about perfection; it is about recognizing that every choice, no matter how small, shapes the direction of your life. Excuses may offer you temporary comfort, but they often come at the cost of growth, opportunity, and personal freedom. When you stop outsourcing responsibility and begin embracing your ability to choose, you will discover that freedom is not the absence of challenges—it is the confidence that you can respond to those challenges with purpose and intention. The greatest transformation you can make often begins the moment you replace an excuse with a decision.
Freedom To Change offers a way for you to reduce the power that excuses have over your life and begin deciding how you will act. For more information on the Freedom2Change materials, visit www.freedom2change.org.
