“Your fate has been charted to you long before you were born, for which you cannot ask or beg for change.”

Growing up my mother used to say this. I grew up inside those words. They were not oppressive—they were simply true, like gravity or sunrise. The map was drawn. My job was to walk it—maybe even drift through it.

Until I encountered the world of self-development where a different chant filled my ears: “You write your own destiny.” Be the author. Take control. Nothing is predetermined.