Fate is part of a belief system. In this mind frame, one subscribes that things are created, people meet, or events occur due to a predestined plan. All of these things happen through a divinity, or super power that is beyond human kind, and no one person has control of what happens to them.
While I will grant that coincidence and circumstances play heavily in most people's lives, I now see that those are things in which we can manipulate, or rather, harness to create another pathway for ourselves.
With every decision that we make, it creates an inevitable set of actions and reactions. Our lives are truly a perfect example of Newton's Law of Motion, more specifically the Third Law of Motion. The difference is that there are numerous independant and dependant variables that impact everything that we wish to do, and why the decisions that we make don't turn out the way we had hoped (and planned) that they would.
Rather than fate, my thoughts are that the presence of confounding variables (much like a 'black swan') is what really impacts our plans in life the most. These are variables that, when introduced to the independant and dependant variables, changes/alters things to the point of uselessness. This would be why those amazing plans in life don't work the way you envisioned them. It is not necessarily that you didn't 'expect the unexpected', however, lives are full of moments that we sometimes don't have the capability or understanding to perceive how much they actually influence the next decision.
I am not a proponent of the 'uselessness' club, because I believe we all serve a purpose here on this blue ball, either to the planet, society, or to others directly. As romantic as the 'red string of fate' mentality is, and that 'fate' brings things to light, people together, and events to 'spontaneously' happen, there really is no such thing. It is a fairy tale, a dream, wishful thinking, to excuse the decisions we have made.
Today, I will live in the day, and am no longer bound by the constraints of naivety or 'wishful thinking'. There will be a deliberate effort to embrace the moment that I am in, and accept where I am at in my life.
It doesn't mean that I can't dream, but I will be living more fully in the reality of what is in front of me, so that I can make ever more clearer choices every time I have the opportunity to do so.
