Fate isn’t something we can avoid, it’s coming for us no matter how fast we run. Every decision we make leads us to the inevitability of the present moment. However, it is those decisions within the moment that give way to a future we can create. The possibilities are there, but they aren’t coming for us, we must strive to bring them into fruition.

When bad things in life happen, it is the idea of fate that offers us solace. We find comfort by saying, “it happened as it was supposed to,” or “it was meant to be.” However, we rarely take time to consider that we still have measurable control over the direction our lives advance. Where fate manifests itself in the moment, destiny is created from the choices we make in response.

In other words, we always have control of how we respond to the bumps in the road. Building a life you want doesn’t come from simply shrugging off the unfortunate episodes in life and saying, “eh, I guess it wasn’t meant to be;” it’s the result of taking something in stride, correcting course and reestablishing the understanding that you have the power to write your own future.