To my annoyance, these instances of the slightest significance have plagued my thoughts and pestered me into questioning why they occur.

It’s led me to deduce that trying to withdraw a truth from a coincidence is counterproductive and detracts from what actually is important. No moment is any more significant than the next one.

There have been countless occasions when I’ve felt an overwhelming spell of euphoria — like the stars have aligned, and something was meant to happen.

Getting caught up in this made me invested unnecessarily in the future and created a guessing game as to what else was meant to happen.

The realization I reached: The only way I’ll find out what’s meant to happen is if I stop thinking about it. Sometimes bizarre things just happen, and there isn’t a wildly dramatic explanation of their occurrence.

Instead of circling around, making assumptions as to what some fanciful coincidence might mean, it is far more exciting to not ask at all and walk forward into whatever lies ahead. Embracing the chaos of the unknown tomorrow unlatches a boundless, thrilling voyage into the sea of life.

Allow me to elaborate by examining the miracle of my, and everyone else’s, existence.

If my parents never met, I wouldn’t have been born. Looking further back, if my grandparents never married, my parents also wouldn’t have been born.

By this logic, my birth depended on each of my ancestors acting in the exact way they did. Any discrepancy in their behavior, even a slight one, could have altered the chance of me being brought into this world.

This sparked me to think about what I was doing at any moment and how awfully important it was. It shed light on the spontaneity and opportunity that exists in every second, which is enough to eliminate the word “boredom” from the dictionary.

What I’m engaged in at this very moment is vital to the very action I take next, which, in turn, affects my next action, and so on.

Even what’s considered minor and trivial, like the shirt you’re wearing today, has some influence on your future. For instance, let’s create a scenario in which you’re at a party wearing a shirt of your favorite band.

This might prompt a mutual fan of the band to initiate a conversation with you, which could lead to infinite possibilities.

Most likely, you’ll talk for five minutes and disperse, never to speak again. But something incredible could happen, too.

You could acquire a lasting friendship, a job opportunity or a connection to someone else. Or maybe you’ll hate each other’s guts and get into a raucous fight. Anything could happen.

The point is, something as seemingly inconsequential as the particular T-shirt you wear on one day can be a critical part of shaping your future. It’s incredible the way these minor decisions we make slowly amount to something significant.

In this way, everything seems more purposeful and makes all good and bad into a wholesome essence of being.

Because when you look back and connect the dots, there ultimately could have been no other path to your present state of consciousness.

What I can say as a final note is no part of life should be overlooked, and there is abundant opportunity in every second.

When things are right, they happen. And in equal measure, when something’s not meant to be, it doesn’t happen. There doesn’t need to be an equation to it all.

So, instead of dissecting what is meant to happen and overanalyzing coincidences, I simply open my eyes, look around and employ myself in what lies at hand.

Tyler Burt is a guest columnist at The State News and a supply chain management junior. Reach him at burttyle@msu.edu.