Before you can be true to yourself and start living your dream life you first have to hold yourself accountable for your own life! Understanding that regardless of the difficulties you have faced in your past and those that you face today, you have control over your future. You choose your own actions. You have the power to create your future, your dream life is possible if you choose it.

It all starts with mindset. You can choose to move past your traumas or you can choose to let them limit you. Everyone has some form of trauma. You’re not alone.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you buy from my link I might make a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay. See the full affiliate disclosure here.

There are countless examples of highly successful people who have come from difficult backgrounds.

As a teenager Jim Carrey was homeless, living in a van with his family. He left school at 15 to help support his family. That didn’t stop him from becoming one of the best-known comedians of the era.
Surfer, Bethany Hamilton had her arm bitten off by a shark when she was 13. Just over two years later she went onto winning the NSSA National Championship, Explorer Women’s Division surf competition.
Richard Branson is dyslexic. He didn’t let this stop him and is now one of the most successful businessmen in the world.
Oprah Winfrey had a rough childhood and was regularly molested by multiple people. She gave birth to a child at 14 years old which died in infancy. She is now worth billions.
Jay-Z couldn’t get a record deal, so he started his own and is now worth $810 million according to Forbes.
At 15 Charlize Theron saw her mother kill her father in self-defense. She is now a wildly successful actress and the first South African woman to win an Academy Award.
J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books as a single mother. Before she captured the world’s imaginations and hearts her book was initially rejected 12 times by publishers.

This list can go on and on. These inspirational people didn’t let their difficulties stop them from pursuing their dream lives. If they can move past these challenges. You can too!

Remember, everyone has some form of past trauma, big or small.

Why holding yourself accountable is so important to take charge of your own future:

Holding yourself accountable for your life doesn’t mean blaming yourself for your trauma. Unfortunately, sometimes horrible things happen that are out of your control. This is by no means fair. Life can be difficult at times.

Learning to hold yourself accountable for your future is about understanding that you are responsible to choose your own actions.

It is about taking your life into your own hands. This is about taking the power away from your past. You can’t undo what has happened to you but you do have the power to change what happens in your future. If you want it and you work for it, you can have your dream life.

When you use your past as an excuse not to do something you actively limit your future.

When you use your past as an excuse for unhealthy or bad behaviors and for treating others in a bad way you will never truly come to terms with your life and become self-actualized.

Being treated poorly doesn’t excuse you from treating others poorly.

I have heard this from several people before: “I’m sorry but you know I had…”

That is not genuine. That is not an apology. If you say that to someone you might as well not bother.

Thinking of one person in particular who on his son’s deathbed apologized for being a bad father then ended it by saying but you know I had a bad childhood myself so…

This sort of thing removes all responsibility from your actions on your own conscious when in fact, you are 100% responsible. You can’t move forward in your life before you can be accountable for your own actions.

This not only applies to how you treat other people but how you treat your health, your money, your career, your mind. Everything. You are responsible for your own future. You have the power to be what you want to be.

How to start accepting accountability for your future:

There are lots of things you can do here but the first and most important thing you can do is understand that you are responsible for your own life.

If you can set your mind to understand that, you will start to generate the power within yourself to take action towards your dreams.

For some people just knowing that will be enough. If you need to reinforce this idea set yourself a mantra and repeat it to yourself 3x in a row everyday morning, afternoon and night.

Use a mantra like:

“I have the power to make my own future”

Or this one: “I am responsible for my own life”

“I control my own life”

“I can and I will”

If you need to work through past traumas it may be helpful to start a journal. Getting your thoughts on paper can help you work through it. Releasing it in a way. Personally, when I was first going through this I found it really therapeutic to burn these letters. I found this to be a sort of spiritual release.

You may need to talk to someone to get it out of your system. Though I am not a professional do be wary not to dwell on your traumas. Talk through them and constantly keep a better future as a focus.

While it is not healthy to suppress anything there is also evidence that continually bringing up your past trauma can result in re-exposure and this Prolonged Exposure Therapy may make it worse.

Remember you do you. The mind is a powerful and easily manipulated tool. Choosing to live a better life and working to live that life is your choice.

Remember you choose your own future, no-one else is going to do it for you!

Summary:

Before you can live your dream life you have to accept responsibility for your own future.
No-one else is going to live your dream life for you!
Everyone has a past trauma of some form.
Taking accountability for your own actions is key!
It is up to you to choose what you do in life. You choose your own future.
Remember that you don’t need anyone’s permission to live your dream life.