Of Fate, Destiny, and Agency

Fate and destiny are terms frequently confused and conflated. Agency is an idea often ignored and misunderstood. A better understanding of each and how they work together may determine whether your journey as a creative difference-maker is frustrating or flourishing.

Fate is simply what is happening now. Your current situation is what it is and was always meant to be. You can be fate's victim or curator. The sooner you accept, acknowledge, and appreciate what is for what it is, the sooner you can frame or reframe what might be and move on.

Destiny is merely what's going to be. You can't know what that might be with any degree of certainty and or confidence, but passively waiting for it to happen is a recipe for suffering. Destiny rewards aspiration, affiliation, and ascent not by granting desires but by providing lessons.

Agency is just a decision to be an active custodian of your experience, collator of your choices, and champion of your cause going forward. Embracing and engaging your agency guarantees nothing; it's a reward in and of itself. Virtue is not found in the results, it's present in the quality of your intentions and the integrity of your effort

So, time to choose. Are you going to allow yourself to be a victim of fate, a leaf blown about by the winds of destiny, or an active agent allowing life to happen through you instead of to you?

Scott Perry, Difference-Maker Coach at Creative on Purpose. 

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