It’s my belief that Fate has a hand to play in how our lives flow.

Back when I was in university, I vowed to myself not to work in a computer company and a bank, mistakenly assuming that these would be the most boring jobs in history.

Fast forward half a decade later, and my work experience include a stint at one of the top 3 global PC manufacturers, and a premier investment bank.

What’s more, I’ve never imagined that I’d end up in Taiwan.

From the Filipino-Chinese standpoint, I thought that Taiwan was just a teeny-tiny island who stubbornly and bravingly insists on declaring independence despite China’s missles constantly pointing at them. A lot of the Taiwanese back home where binlang-chewing blue-collared employees who could only make money selling cheap pirated goods in 168.

Boom, 6 years later, I’m living in Taipei.

Of course, now I understand that the market is one of the bigger ones in Asia, and yes, the country is more technologically advanced than I previously assumed, but blame my past ideas on youthful ignorance le…

So the lesson is, never say never. And given this, I will never marry someone rich and handsome because I am so short and ugly. Ha!

Kidding aside, I also think that disappointments in life are often real blessings in disguise.

For example, back when I applied for a job at DeBeers, I got promptly turned down. Seems that writing a business plan in Chinese was significant part of their requirements for a marketing manager even though business communication was in English. So despite my Mandarin verbal skills being adequate enough, my written skills at that time was weak. So long story short, didn’t get that job.

Of course, I was disappointed… who wouldn’t want to be in the luxury goods industry?

However, because I got turned down at DeBeers, I was given the opportunity to gun for my current job. Half a year later, I was officially an employee, and at present, I am happy with what I do and who I work for. Not getting the job at DeBeers turned out to be such a blessing.

Another are my failed relationships — officially, the number is two.

I was extremely unhappy for a while when my relationships didn’t work out. With one, we were just culturally so different that it would’ve been a stretch to make it work (though we were willing to try). For the other, we were so compatible personality and interest-wise that he would’ve been a mirror image of me if I was male. However, he had some age-issues so we broke up.

Though there were some hard moments after the breakup, ultimately, that turned out to be a total blessing in so many ways that I still celebrate to this day. 🙂

Hence, these examples remind me once again to let Fate do its part.

These days, I start with an initial plan in mind. Everything is already perfect and well-planned out, and then, you realize that BAM! You didn’t get what you expected, and you have to start all over again. It’s extremely frustrating when you don’t get your way, especially after so much preparation…

However, despite the temptation to worry about it, I’ve slowly decided to just let it go. Let the leaves fall as they may. Yen fen — fate.

So I won’t worry too much about it.

If he calls, then so be it. Otherwise, there should be others even better out there.

If the office follows up, great. Otherwise, give that person who is willing to give you an overseas opportunity a call.

If they pass the exam, wonderful. Otherwise, maybe the job isn’t for them in the first place.

Breathe, relax, let go.

Leave it to fate.

Hope that you’re able to let go as well and let fate play its hand. As always, everything works out in the end…