I think the whole “everything happens for a reason” thing is one of those feel-good sayings people throw around because it sounds deep. Right up there with “live, laugh, love” hanging on someone’s kitchen wall. Sometimes life has a reason. Sometimes life just kicks you square in the ass because Tuesday felt like the right day.

I see it as a 50/50 deal. Half of what happens is completely out of your control. Wrong place, wrong time. Right place, right time. Meeting someone who changes your life. Losing someone you never expected to. You don’t get a vote on a lot of that. That’s just life doing what it does. It doesn’t stop to ask if you’ve got plans.

The other half? That’s on you. Your choices matter. You decide whether to sit there whining that the universe screwed you over, or whether you get up, adjust, and keep moving. I spent way too many years worrying about everyone else’s problems while putting my own life on the back burner. Nobody was handing out medals for that. The day I started putting myself, my wife, and my sanity first, life got a hell of a lot better. That wasn’t fate. That was me finally pulling my head out of my own ass.

So no, I don’t believe life is some pre-written VHS tape where every scene was planned before you hit Play. We’re Gen X. We grew up when bike helmets were optional, nobody knew where we were until the streetlights came on, and if something broke, you figured it out instead of crying on social media. Life deals the cards. You decide whether to fold, play the hand, or flip the damn table over. That’s the 50% that actually matters.