Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

ellenv's picture

Serendipity

 I also agree that it depends on the person whether or not they are able to experience serendipity in their life. There are some people who are very intent on controlling every aspect of their life, and because of that, anything out of the ordinary may not be seen in a positive light. On the other hand, there are many people who do not like to live very structured lives and because of that, they can find joy in the smallest things that happen to them in day to day life. Neither of these two extremes is necessarily a preferred on to find yourself in. Even if it is true that we are unhappy when we try to control our lives too much, there are people who only feel comfortable when they are in control of every aspect of their life and so to them, this instances of "serendipity" might not bring about the same feelings as those who live a less structured life. I remember when I was watching a TV show a few years ago and the entire plot line of the episode had somewhat to do with the idea of serendipity. One of the characters wanted to be more spontaneous but in attempting to be spontaneous, they only managed to plan things out more and the result was that they were entirely unhappy. I hope that I can mind the middle ground between allowing for serendipity while at the same time being able to structure my life to some extent.

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
1 + 4 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.