Everything happens for a reason.
It was meant to be.
God has a plan.
It will all work out in the end.
I don’t buy it.
I used to believe in aphorisms like these. Not anymore.
The older I get, the more I have come to believe that life is made up of a lot of chance, randomness, and luck. Sometimes good things happen. Sometimes bad things happen. Things work out. Things don’t work out.
Then, we look back and tell ourselves a story that the decisions we made and the actions we took were responsible for the results. Or even more fantastical, that the outcome was predestined.
It’s comforting to believe in fate, that hard times beget good times, that karma exists and that everything happens for a reason. I understand why most people choose to believe this.
This worldview doesn’t work for me anymore.