I barely toast my bread. I like a little bit of golden and a tiny bit of crisp. I warm it up just enough for the peanut butter, Nutella, or whatever other spread I use to melt.
If it is burnt…it is gross, and I won’t eat it.
So that is not the kind of burnt toast I am talking about. It is the theory.
The Burnt Toast Theory is the idea that any minor setbacks may prevent worse situations from happening. Something like burning your toast and having to remake it sets you back five minutes. Those five minutes can change a lot.
If you use this mindset, you go through life a little calmer.
When my car doors freeze shut, I wake up late to an alarm, or stay later for a class that was cancelled the whole time, I get less mad because if I had left on time that day, would something have happened?
Don’t get angry at the burnt toast that saved your life.
I could be scrambled and late, but a few minutes or hours could make a big difference in where I was supposed to be, or not be, in the universe during a certain time.
This even applies to the good things that randomly happen in your life, like meeting your friends. Is it a coincidence we were in the same place at the same time, or were we meant to know each other?
Then my brain spirals. If I had not met you now, would I have met you in the future?
I saw another phrase while I was just scrolling through social media a few weeks ago, and since then, it has stuck. Even more than the burnt toast theory has.
It was something like this: It didn’t work out, because you would have hated it.
A job that passed me by, a relationship that broke apart, or a trip that never made it out of the group chat is upsetting but also was not meant to happen.
It is so simple but so settling. Instead of stressing about the things that didn’t succeed, you look forward to what the future will bring.
All of these theories, thoughts, and quotes all agree with the cliché idea that “everything happens for a reason.” Nobody wants to hear this when something disappointing occurs, but people will eventually realize the truth.
These simple adjustments in thinking really change your outlook on life.
You will still face stressors and disappointments. The little things will still bother you sometimes. Yet, thinking about these theories can make you turn those disappointments into appreciations.
What is meant for you, will stay.