One day it rains while the another day sky threatens to do it again but then decides to hold itself back and just be cloudy.
Check with the folks at your local weather office and they will tell you that the chance for rain tomorrow is 30%. Maybe I will carry 30% of the umbrella when I go out for my walk, and all will be well. But alas, I either must carry an umbrella and be 100% safe or not carry one and face a 30% chance of getting wet (which in summer, might actually be fun!). I do not have an option for carrying 30% of the umbrella. The decision for carrying an umbrella is a yes or a no proposition. All I can do is to look at the chance for rain in forecast and make a decision.
A 30% chance for rain. It is just a reflection that future is uncertain.
Uncertainty, chance, luck, randomness, kismet, afortunado; however we refer to the future uncertainty, it plays a large role in shaping our life. The very fact that you are here reading these words, and the sun is shining outside in the sky is a result of long chain of lucky events in the evolution of stars and galaxies, in the evolution of life on Earth, and in the trajectory of our own life after birth.
Accept or not, ultimately, we are a result of imperceptible nudges of luck (or chance, uncertainty, randomness…). We are a conclusion of a long chain of random events that have shaped our life and everything around us.
We also developed a downright strange relationship with luck. When outcomes of our decisions turn out to be good, we attribute that to our superior skills and clear thinking. When they are not good, we blame them on bad luck. When lady luck smiles on us, she does not get enough credit for her generosity, but she sure gets all the blame when things go south.
With luck adding a twist to our careful deliberations, the trajectory of our life is decided by two components — the quality of our decisions and the role luck plays in what actually happens. We can set the stage and increase our chances of winning by making informed decisions and doing that is an excellent skill to cultivate.
We should put our best foot forward and then be optimistically cautious that things will turn out what we envisioned them to be. Opting to eat healthy food and having a healthy lifestyle increases the likelihood that we will require less visits to the doctor, although no one can guarantee for it. Jumping in the stock market after researching stocks carefully will increase our chances of having positive returns but then the world gets hit by COVID-19, and for a while our investments sour.
To keep ourselves humble and not get overconfident in our skills and abilities', it would be good to periodically remind ourselves of the role luck and randomness play in outcomes.
So next time, when there is a chance for 30% rain and you did not carry an umbrella but get soaked, enjoy the feel of the rain on your face and make the best of it.
Ciao and thanks for reading.