Do you believe in destiny?

This is one of my favorite topics to discuss because there is truly no real information to support one’s answer either way. People’s answers to this question gives you a lot of insight into how they live their lives and how they think about the decisions they make. In my opinion, if you do believe in destiny then you do not hesitate when making decisions, because you believe whatever is meant for you in life will be at the end of the tunnel regardless of what happens today and in theory, you have already made the decisions to get there, you are just currently living out what has already happened. On the other hand, if you do not believe in destiny, I think people ponder decisions longer, truly considering what new path this decision can create in their life. If you do not believe in destiny, then you are writing your life story in real time, and every decision holds a stronger stake in what is at the end of the tunnel for you.

“I definitely believe in destiny. I would say that believing in destiny allows me to take more risks when it comes to my decisions and be able to think outside the box. It allows me to have the ‘What is meant to be will be’ mentality'”
-Snap Follower

This informant answered the question exactly as I imagined. She allows herself to take more risks because she knows her future is already planned out for her. She does not have to reconsider decisions or even regret them because she believes whatever is meant for her will always be there for her and no decision will change that. One thing to consider is no one can truly see into the future so we do not “know” what is actually meant for us but we have an idea and we work towards that through our imagination. Another aspect of agreeing with destiny is religion. I can only speak from my personal experience of Christianity, but in this religion we are told “God has a plan for you” and the goal of life is to find your God given plan or your reason for being alive and fulfill it. But the key word in that statement is to “find” so although it was there before we were born, we are intended to search for it and have experiences finding it. This is a clear definition of religious destiny.

“No, if I want something I have to pray and/or speak it into existence. Creating steps/actions to push my goals is the only thing that has worked for me…”
-Snap Follower

This informant is religious but does not believe in destiny. She is aware that if she wants something in the future she must plan for it, she must set her objections to that goal in order to achieve it. People like this believe nothing in life is given to you, and you must work for anything you want but they also do not believe in boundaries. I am sure her mantra is “I can do anything I put my mind to”. For her, every decision is calculated to ensure it aligns with the goals she desires, and there is not much space for idle time or ineffective decisions because all efforts are directed towards her success.

For me, I truly believe in both and I know that is very contradictory but I am ok with it. In my mind, I will be successful without a doubt, that is my true destiny but the path of how I become successful is unwritten. I believe every decision I make day-to-day effects my path to success, how I will become successful, and hows long it will take for me to become successful. For example, if I decided to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow and won, I would have instantly become rich and I can pursue my dreams and goals and accomplish them much faster due to the influx of money I have received by taking that risk of buying a ticket. On the flip side, I could have saved and invested that three dollars into my first stock which would eventually lead me to becoming a successful investor and accomplishing my dreams and goals. At the end of the day it is the same outcome, just different paths. I have goals that I aim for but I do take risks getting there because at the end of the day you win some and you lose some but you’ll never know until you try. What are your thoughts, and of course thank you for your opinion.

Photographer: Crystal Smith. Find more of her work at Cvptureimages