Serendipity

All my life, I’ve been spoiled by serendipity.

If you don’t get what I mean… here’s an example for you: Ever wondered about the meaning of a word or how a word came into existance and then in a short span of time, have your questions answered for you without
even actively looking for it? That’s serendipity. Ever had a music album that you heard a lot in your teens but never since because you lost it and it became unavailable (and you didn’t really look), and then suddenly, years later, you found it while you were not even looking for it? That’s serendipity for you, too.
I’m just studying coincidences but this really happens to me a lot. Too frequently, and too much more bang-on-target than it should. I read about a concept somewhere and then everywhere I look, it starts to appear. I consciously remember wanting to look up something on the Internet or wanting to download something and a few days later, boom, it’s presented to me on one medium or another.

I’m not really saying that this is the sort of thing that one should depend upon, or even that I do, but it is something of a bad habbit that I’ve picked up over the years.

Some would say that this is just another form of procrastination. I would tend to agree. But what can one do? You can’t really go around hunting around for your smallest whim or fantasy and then force-fulfill
it, can you?

Some would even go ahead and say that all of this is really a big load of bulll; there’s no such thing. To these people, I’d like to point out that a lot of the world’s discoveries and inventions were made this way. For example, penicillin. Arguably one of the most important discoveries in medicine in the past, penicillin was discovered by accident by Alexander Fleming while he was actively working on finding it (or something similar to it).

So was Velcro.

How about … Post-it Notes?

The rings around Uranus?

The effects of LSD, even.

One of the biggest problems with Serendipity is that you cannot, by definition, ever predict that it will ever happen. Which is also why it’s always a pleasant surprise. Take Skype‘s “Skype Me” mode. You never know who might just call.

What’s my point? I’m simply trying to say that you don’t really, necessarily have to sweat the small stuff; it could just come to you anyway. One should concentrate on more productive long-term goals and
actively work towards them.

And then maybe, just maybe, that seagull which flew away could just come back to be with you forever.

Anyway.