Serendipity

Who we are is the culmination of every decision, choice, and consequence that has shaped our path, all leading us to this very moment. Fairness, however, is a myth. Some are born into greatness, while others must toil endlessly to achieve even a fraction of it. For those given a head start, they should embrace their fortune with gratitude, knowing that generations before them labored to provide those advantages. It becomes their responsibility to take these gifts and elevate them to even greater heights.

Then there are those born into hardship, whose only possession is the life they’ve been given. Life is not fair, and that is the first truth I teach everyone. Yet one certainty remains for all of us—death. It is the great equalizer, the inevitable end that none of us can escape. And so, the ultimate question arises: When the time comes to meet death, how will you have lived?

How we choose to confront this truth will determine the course of the rest of our lives. Some blatantly deny life’s truth, using this denial as a crutch—an excuse for why life isn’t unfolding as they had envisioned. For every problem that arises, there is always a reason offered, one that deflects their responsibility. The blame is often shifted to others or past experiences. By living in the past, they can escape the despair of the present, blurring the future with the belief that they can cast a different outcome. Yet this belief is shaped by the denial they cling to.

While fear is a valid feeling, many remain ignorant of the role it plays in shaping their lives. They fear, and because of that fear, they spend a lifetime running—running from all the ‘what if’s,’ the ‘could have beens,’ and the experiences that might have shaped them into the person they were meant to be.

I, too, was once consumed by fear. A fear rooted in the rejection I had felt all my life. While my eyes observed those with friends and comfort, I was overcome by a deep sense of isolation. I knew that my life’s path was painted in different strokes than those around me—unexplored and uncertain. I faced challenges head-on, but I fell and broke along the way, marked by the scars of life’s battles. I carry the tattoos of those experiences, etched deep within me.

I had every reason to blame the unfairness that surrounded me, every reason to give up. Like many of you, I encountered life’s injustices. Yet, while my mind was weak, shaken by everything I had endured, my body and soul held a strength my mind couldn’t comprehend at the time. Since childhood, they had been training me to persevere.

Where I was paralyzed by fear of what lay ahead, my body and soul instinctively understood what lingered behind: a return to nothing. There was no going back.

This isn’t to say that those who reject life’s truths are wrong. I cannot claim to know what is right or wrong. There are no clear guidelines to life. What I am saying is this: to expect life to be fair, or to believe you deserve something, will only lead to the disappointment of realizing that life itself does not care.

We are the ones who have the power to shape our outcomes. Life may not unfold as we envisioned, and we may not yet be where we hoped, but you will be further along tomorrow if, today, you choose to take just one step forward.

Fear will guide us, teaching us what we do not yet understand. It will chip away at what no longer serves us, shaping us into who we need to become for the journey that lies beyond what we can presently see.

Keep going.