Does everything happen for a reason?

This thought has been on my mind for almost my whole life. Everything I did/do revolves around it. As humans I think we rely on this. We use it as an excuse when things are shitty..and even when good things happen. We give no credit to ourselves, and accept misfortune all because of this phrase. I'm slowly starting to see that we determine our own destinies. We choose if we want to be great, what we want to do, and where we want to go. Its not written in this secret book of our life. Sometimes I think we use it to cover our laziness and our fear. If we don't achieve what we've set out for, we take it as "happening for a reason" and put the dream away. This is the saddest way of living life I can ever imagine. I think if we all got this preconceived notion out of our minds we all have the potential of being exactly who we want to be: Great.