Everything happens for a reason

“Everything happens for a reason,” they say.

That’s weak. Yes, only the weak reach out for that when something bad happens to them. Yeah, weak. There, I said it.

Because it is true.
It is reality.

Not everything happens for a reason. Some things are just pure chaos and chance. My hot take is most things are just chaos and chance. But in our vulnerability as meaning-making creatures, we reflexively say it happened for a reason, so that we feel better about ourselves. We say that we self-soothe, to console ourselves, that we may lost now but we will still win in the end. After we conjure up a reason.

That’s just weak.

The better way is to just accept you lost.
Sometimes we just lose, nothing else to it.

Maybe there’s a physical reason. Maybe there isn’t.
If there’s one, learn from it, grow from it, don’t repeat the same mistake.
If there isn’t, don’t go searching for one, imagining one up where there isn’t.

Don’t just reach for “Everything happens for a reason” like some ice cream treat after you fell down.

It’s okay to just lose.
Without knowing why.
And just try again.

That’s real strength.