Are you a victim of circumstance or a victim of your choices?

I often hear people when they are about to make a bad choice say “I live once”.

It’s a common excuse, a free pass we give ourselves to make impulsive choices—choices we often come to regret. However, let me challenge that mindset:

We don’t live once. We live every single day. We only die once.

Yet, time and time again, we make choices as if there are no consequences. Think about it:

• Remember your first sip of alcohol? You swore it was just for fun, yet here you are, nursing another hangover and convincing yourself it’s the last one.

• That first puff of a cigarette? What started as an experiment has turned into an expensive addiction that’s tough to break.

• That vacation where you overspent beyond your budget? Now, you’re considering debt review because debit orders are bouncing.

• The car you "had to have"? Remember when you said, 'I live once' and went ahead to buy a car, justifying it because you could afford the monthly payments—only if they added a balloon payment at the end? You convinced yourself that you’d save up enough to settle it all in one go. Fast forward to now, and you’ve had to renegotiate the balloon payment to be settled in installments. As a result, you’re paying more in interest because you’ve extended the debt period.

  
  

And the list goes on.

These weren’t once-off choices. They were moments that led to lasting consequences, shaping the reality you live today.

It’s time to turn things around

In 2025, we stop being passive decision-makers because we understand that not choosing is still a choice. You can't just sit back and hope things will work out in your favor. Moreover, you can’t make choices just for the sake of it—each decision needs to be intentional.

You owe it to yourself to make every decision count. Your future self depends on the choices you make today, and those are the choices you’ll either appreciate or regret. The decisions you make today shape the life you’ll live tomorrow.

We can all sympathize with the challenges of being born poor, but dying poor is a choice, and no one can sympathize with that!

What everyday choices have been sabotaging your success? Take a moment to reflect and write them down. Track how much those choices have held you back. From here on out, make a commitment to make choices you won’t regret.

Remember: WE DIE ONCE, BUT LIVE EVERYDAY – so make your choices count.