carry one's own hide to market

Verb

bring one's own hide to market (third-person singular simple present brings one's own hide to market, present participle bringing one's own hide to market, simple past and past participle brought one's own hide to market)

1. (US, idiomatic, often) To create one's own fate, as a result of one's chosen character and actions; to experience the appropriate consequences of one's behavior.
   • "[T]hou art a living passenger upon this earth, and must look out for thyself. Help yourself! Nobody forwards thee to thy destination; and we Germans have a proverb that comes near it in meaning: 'Each one must carry his own hide to market.'"1869, Berthold Auerbach, chapter 8, in Charles C. Shackford, transl., The Country-house on the Rhine, page 223