Coincidences are very unsettling to me. Noticing a coincidence snaps me out of normalcy, of routine. Some things as simple as thinking about someone just before they text you or wearing the same outfit as someone at school on the same day make me question what is even real.

Obviously coincidences are just random events that happen to take place at the same time. There is no real relation or reason. And often what I think are coincidences are really not. Maybe I just wore the same outfit as someone else because I, like most people, buy clothes that are trending, and the weather allowed for this simple outfit. Things are often not as random as they seem.

But another part of me can’t help but take a coincidence as a sign. For example, one time in history class I knew the answer to the question but decided not to raise my hand. As soon as I got home from school my sister randomly told me about something she learned in school and it was the very same topic which I opted not to raise my hand and share with the class about. Part of me refuses to believe that that’s just a coincidence. Was the universe telling me I should’ve spoken up in class? 

Is that just me trying to find patterns and connections that really are not there? Is there really no underlying reason why two similar things happen at the same time?

The more logical part of me believes that coincidences are meaningless. Statistically, weird things are bound to happen. But who’s to say that they’re not actually signs from the universe. Or maybe we really are living in a simulation and the puppet master is just playing with us. Or maybe everything’s just predetermined by the laws of the universe and these events were always going to happen.

It makes my head hurt thinking about it all, so for now I just choose to believe that coincidences really are just unrelated events that happen to occur at the same time. With no rhyme or reason.