If there’s anything I’ve learned through my 19 years on Earth, it’s to never trust anything blindly. But if there’s a greater lesson I’ve learned, it is that sometimes, the Universe does wonders. Ever heard the phrase, “Trust the Universe”? It’s the magical phrase I usually repeat to myself when something inexplicably frustrating happens, as a desperate attempt to prevent a crashout. When I was stuck in traffic for more than an hour, even though I was supposed to reach my destination in 50 minutes? “Trust the Universe.” When I could only finish writing half my paper during my mock psych exam and barely passed? Of course, I was in tears, but a good mental breakdown and a bowlful of Maggi later, I told myself, “Trust the Universe.”
When I think about why I keep using that phrase, two very odd instances come to mind. These seemingly silly occurrences convinced ten-year-old me that there was some mysterious force out there that made these things happen. One bright day in fourth grade, I remember entering one of the girls’ washrooms and seeing a cluster of ants stuck to the wall. Considerably disgusted, I thought to myself, “The next time I come back in here, they should be gone.” Given the awful state of school washrooms, I had little faith that the ants would be gone. I had fully forgotten about them until I returned at the end of the day, and voila! They were actually gone. The incident stood out to me—I mean, why else would I be recounting this story almost a decade later? Another peculiar thing happened just a few days later. I was with my friends at one of their houses, and I was having the time of my life. I really didn’t want to go home. “Unless… Mummy and Papa decide that we go out for dinner…” I wondered, but I knew it was just wishful thinking. My fate that night was undoubtedly daal and bhindi. However, about an hour later, the host friend’s mom suggested going to a nearby Taco Bell for dinner, and we all squealed with joy. I informed my parents without thinking twice. Can’t turn down the host’s invitation now, can I?
Even to this day, I consider these weird instances as a sign that the Universe listened to my thoughts and responded back to me. Almost like, “Don’t want ants? Okay, no more ants now.” But logically, these were more likely to be mere coincidences than some divine intervention that magically planted the idea of going to Taco Bell into my friend’s mom’s head. If that’s so, then why do I still trust the Universe? Because now that I’m older, I realise that trusting the Universe doesn’t mean expecting it to perform miracles for me. The Universe ain’t no genie. Instead, it’s more of a guide, leading me down the best paths for character growth. I think of it as a gamer playing a story-based video game, where it chooses the decision that is best for me, even if I suffer a bit as a result.
Seriously, though, let me put this in theory. As with my horrifying psych mock exam, I was initially too subdued in my misery. Yet, that turned out to be the very reason why I doubled down on revising psych for my upcoming boards, making sure that I’d be able to write the paper in time. I’m proud to say that my hard work paid off, and you’re now looking at someone with an A* in A Level Psychology. I like to think the Universe wanted me to ruin my mock, which drove me to study twice as hard. As for my unfortunate traffic incident, I was about to meet my fellow Krea batchmates for the first time and was afraid of making a terrible first impression by being colossally late. But what first felt like an unfathomable rage-bait experience later made me realise the value in making pitiful first impressions—it does wonders for your social anxiety. The Universe deciding to congest the roads that day helped me realise that if I could show up nearly two hours late for a meet-up and survive, then why bother overthinking other mildly awkward interactions? From then on, I have been able to get over self-inflicted embarrassment much more easily.
The point is, I think every good or bad experience is the Universe’s way of teaching us something. You may not believe in things “happening for a reason”, but maybe after reading my yap about the Universe, you could consider approaching your everyday life experiences with a more open mind about what you could learn from them. Who knows, maybe the Universe is waiting for you with its invisible hand extended, saying, “Trust me, bro, I’ve got you.”