TWIST OF FATE

I’m lucky, but I am really not as lucky as some. For instance, despite the fact that I did have a career,  I rarely ever got hired for any job I actually applied for. It is a trend that has followed me throughout my life and I have no explanation for it other than one that AI suggests.

“Many believe that fate and choice are not mutually exclusive, but rather intertwined, with fate providing the stage and our choices determining how we play out the story.”

For instance, my first, significant broadcast position came via a fluke while I was working at my starter TV job at a tiny station housed in a building which shared space with a rock band. It didn’t take much for our viewers to wonder where all that bass was coming from during each and every broadcast. But, hey, everyone has to start somewhere and I was grateful for the opportunity. That said, I was ambitious and was madly sending out videos and resumes to larger TV stations all over the country. Then one day I saw a letter on my desk from a  prestigious TV station down South. I had never reached out to this particular company before, so it was a mystery to me why I had received correspondence from them.  Curiously, the envelope had already been opened. Hm. I read it and was shocked that the news director there was requesting I come down for an interview. Knock me over with a feather. 

But my excitement disappeared immediately when I spied my boss bolting over to my desk. All I could think of was that he was the one who had opened my letter and was now ready to fire me for seeking out new employment. One, I must add, that I had never even sought out. And I was half right.

“I opened your letter,” he admitted.

Now what? I thought.

“I apologize, “ he said.

“Oh,” was all I could muster. One of the few instances where uncharacteristic silence was the wisest choice.

“Fact is, I had applied to that station myself. But I guess they liked you more.”

I was his co-anchor, so I was, of course, on his resume tape. Needless to say that station needed a female anchor, not a male one, so I got the job that I never applied for.

My next position came about without my assistance as well. While I was working in North Carolina my station was acquired by a Boston concern. As I came from Boston the new boss thought I’d be an ideal addition to the staff there. What are the chances?

True to my work history, it was at the behest of the wife of my next news director that I secured my subsequent job. She used to watch me on a competing station and mentioned to her TV news director husband that he might consider taking a look at me. If she liked me, I am sure she thought, maybe he would too.  I respect a man who listens to his wife, but I at least hope there was more to it than that. But who cares, really? I got the job.

These scenarios might suggest I never actually tried to get hired elsewhere, but I did. However it seems that all my efforts never produced the kind of results that fate did. Of course I could have botched the interviews and never got what fate had served up but those interviews would never have happened in the first place if destiny had not provided the opportunities.

This penchant for unintentional passiveness followed me throughout my personal relationships as well. Which means, I have never entered into a romance with anyone I was actually interested in. Ever. That doesn’t mean I was not interested in the men who did fancy me. It’s just that I guess I’m clearly ineffective as a pursuer. Better at being pursued. That’s not such a bad thing, unless, of course, you live in the jungle and are not fleet of foot. 

To this “pursuer” point, when I met my late husband I had been a last minute fill-in to a dinner party he was attending. I did not know the hostess or most of the other guests attending but had been recommended by the only guest I did know.  As I do love a party and because the hostess sounded a bit desperate to round out the table I was happy to oblige.  A great night followed. But, as charming as my future husband was, there was no expectation of romance. I mean, I was just a substitute and he was geographically undesirable- living 4-thousand miles away. A distance that ultimately seemed not to matter to him one bit as we quickly started dating and then married in record time.

I have considered what all this says about me. My penchant for being acted upon, that is. It’s not like I am shy or an under achiever. Professionally, I worked hard at my jobs. And personally, I don’t frighten little children. But, I do succeed “differently.”

 It seems that fate doesn’t trust me to do the right thing so it consistently intervenes on my behalf.  It’s been a great example of how luck and fate and belief in destiny can all convene to properly direct your life in the direction it was meant to take.  So if you ever doubt your ability to succeed- Don’t. Just leave room for the unexpected.

I am not saying you should lay about the couch just waiting for life to happen to you. You have to be in the game. At the ready. If you want to pursue medicine, for instance, you’re going to have to go to medical school. But maybe one day you find yourself forced to perform CPR on a stranger who happens to also own the largest chain of medical facilities in the country. It could happen.

A great case of -unknowingly-being in the right place at the right time happened to Fran Drescher, currently the union president of SAG-AFTRA. She became famous when she starred in the successful series called THE NANNY.  But how it actually came about was pure serendipity. While about to board a transatlantic flight she allegedly learned the president of CBS was also on board. With no time to lose, she made her way into first class, sat down right next to him and pitched her story idea for THE NANNY. The rest is history.

AI has its own explanation for such fateful happenings when it suggests “ While luck can present opportunities, it’s the ambitious individual who is prepared to capitalize on them.”

So, if all your efforts to produce optimal results fail, maybe it’s because you have not accepted that you are only in control of so much. Even though you are in the game-professionally or personally – just remember that  FATE, destiny or luck  are concepts to trust to some degree. 

So keep up the good work, and have a plan, but don’t discount or lose faith in the unexpected and the exciting surprises you simply could never have imagined.