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Nasly Roa Noriega (she/her/hers), Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

How do I accept my destiny? Should I accept what has been written for me, or try to mold it? I think that when we talk about accepting something, it is like receiving a destiny, but often we might feel reluctant to follow that path.

And what is destiny? There are so many definitions . . . some define it spiritually, like those who believe God is the owner of our destiny. Others might see it from a moral point of view, where we were created to have the ability to make decisions and be responsible for them. Still others might believe in fatalistic destiny, involving predestined events.

Destiny looks at the future, what is not seen, but sensed, where we sense what may happen according to our thoughts on the present and past.

Yesterday I asked my husband if he wanted to accept his destiny, or if he at least knew what it might be. He answered me with the same question: Would you accept yours?  His question initially left me perplexed, because I only wanted an answer to be able to write something. However, he gave me the answer I needed, because it was then when I realized that I had a destiny.

I had always thought that destiny was not known and that things just happen, but when I meditated on the question of whether I would accept my destiny, I realized that the destiny I imagined in my childhood was not fulfilled as I matured because I did not have the attitude or perseverance to achieve what my thoughts wanted, and I just let myself be carried away by circumstances that occurred during my personal growth.

In this moment, I realized that that destiny that once crossed my child’s mind had returned to my thoughts. I felt that my destiny was not the future but what I am achieving in the present, what I am building day by day. Each circumstance is tied to a thought that defines me, and that shapes a destiny that has always been there, but that I have always postponed.

It is not necessary to be sure of what awaits us at the end. There will always be mysterious steps along our paths, and we can go around those steps, climb them, or perhaps feel that they prevent us from passing and look for another path. But in the end, we will get there.

As human beings, we have the capacity to make moral decisions, and we must be responsible for them, because they determine our actions and what is attracted to us. We decide what we want to be and we define our destinies based on our desires, but it is our attitudes and actions that lead us where we go.

Destiny is a decision. For me, this definition defines my identity. Accepting that decision depends on circumstances, thoughts, morals and attitudes. We have all defined a destiny by how we have led our lives, but the way we shape it and the way we decide to face it is the most fundamental challenge in our lives.

I return again to my initial question: Should I accept my destiny? 

If I like it and I want it, I can continue with my destiny, but if I am at the point where I feel frustrated and my circumstances are not what I want, I can begin to mold, set aside or rewrite my story on a new page, assuming the responsibility of making the changes that a new decision brings with it.

Every time we take a first step, we are defining our destinies. Every time we face new challenges, we add more steps to our destinies. Every time we fall and get up, we accept the responsibility of the consequences that our decisions bring to our destinies.  Therefore, we are the true authors of our own destinies.

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Hello, my name is Nasly Roa. I am Colombian, an economist by profession, a writer by passion, a mother without condition, a wife by dedication and an entrepreneur by motivation. This is my destiny.