The title to this particular post was inspired by what someone had once told me.
"It didn't happen because God had something else planned for you. Something bigger, something better. He knows best. He is after all, the one that's writing your life."
I suppose, being a non-believer, this piece of condolence made no particular impact on me. But I listened to it, nonetheless. I tried to think it was true, that maybe, there was a being we call 'God' who is out there, writing my story, planning out what's going to happen to me tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that.
Until I thought deeply about it. If I'm laughing now, is it because God had written it somewhere in some big book of his that now I'm going to laugh, or was it simply because I wanted to? Was the want to laugh somehow planned by God? What would've happened if I'd simply not laughed? Would I have missed out on something absolutely great, because that's what God had planned for me? Yes, seems like a silly thing to think of. Let's take something a lot more substantial, then.
Something I've gone through personally. Taking for instance, the fact that I did not get into the University I wanted. It was something I had desperately wanted, more than anything. But I couldn't. Because at the end of the day, the work and effort I had put in just wasn't enough. I had to work harder, put in more effort. Perhaps then I would've been able to get in. When I didn't get through any of the Universities I had planned for, I cried. Yes, I cried. I cried because I knew my dreams, just like that, were put to an end. I couldn't go for them. I had missed my chance.
And that's when my mum had said to me, "Maybe you didn't get in because God wanted you to be someplace else. Maybe you were supposed to do something else, something better in life. God has it all planned." I had tried to appear reassured by that, that maybe what I would end up doing would be something better, something bigger. But when I did start the course I am now in, I realized this is far from what I had wanted. This had absolutely no relevance to what my strength was. Everyone in that course was clear on what they wanted to do, and they were doing exactly that. My friend got into the University she wanted. It all came down to one thing.
Why was I stuck doing something I had absolutely no interest in? I was lost. And just like that my goals, the ones I had, began to diminish.
And that's when I started thinking. All those people, they got what they wanted because God wanted them to? Did that mean I was not supposed to get what I wanted? No, the answer is simple. It was the harsh truth, but the truth nonetheless. They worked hard for it, and I didn't; because if I had, I probably would've been where I wanted to be. Because when it comes to your future, you can't always settle for what needs to be done. If there is no passion, there's nothing.
And that's why I firmly believe you're the author of your own story. You decide how your life goes. If your life is in ruins right now, it's because of something you did, not because of what God had planned for you. If you are where you wanted to be, it's because of your effort, your hard work, not a miracle by God.
I am not saying there is no God, though I don't believe in God, but there might be. But sometimes I feel we start depending too much on this 'almighty' that we tend to blame it all on him, whenever something goes wrong. I feel like we just need someone to rely on, so we don't have to take responsibility for something we ourselves are responsible for. We put it on him, God, and that's where we're wrong.
Because at the end of it, you make your own destiny. It's as simple as that.
