There are many ways you can regard the future – you can either consider it predetermined, or perceptible to our actions.
I once heard a story about the nine norms - though I cannot recall where or when; nine women who control the fate of gods and men. This story tells me nothing I do matters. Nothing I think matters. The future will come and happen no matter what, simply because the Norms have fated the world, long before any of us came to live in it.
I have lived with this idea for a long time; accepting my poor fate, not questioning how I got there, and why – even though I should've known . Thus, every time the sun rose another day came, no different from the last.
Only the horrible attack sufficed to wake me up from this slumbering life. But again, I didn't do anything – it were the ruthless creatures attacking the village that brought something in motion that would change my life. After that, it was the kind soldier who brought a small group of women to the royal palace, followed by the man who decided I was good enough to work for the royal family.
Yet, this still wasn't enough to change my mind set, not completely. I had sworn myself I would find a way to make my life count, but had not yet accepted the idea there might already be a plan out there for me.
Because that's what I believe in now: destiny. It isn't set in stone. It doesn't control the now, let alone the future. But it does guide us, lets us meet those that we are supposed to meet.
When we do, destiny leaves it up to us; what we do, how we react. Because destiny might show us our purpose, we still have to be brave enough to look it in the eyes, raise our heads, and take the pathway to who we are meant to be.