You hear the cliche “EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON” whenever things don’t work out in your favor, and if you’re like me, sometimes you want to punch the person who says this to you in the face. Now I’m not by any means religious, and my guess is as good as anyone else’s when I question the existence of a higher power; however, I do believe in the law of attraction and the universe giving back to us what we put in.

As much as I hate those five dreaded words, it wasn’t until I took a trip to Nashville in January that everything sort of clicked and it became more of a positive cliche for me versus something people say to be comforting when they can’t think of anything else. It was a cold, rainy Sunday and my friend Shannon took me to church with her. I quickly got dressed and we were out of the door in a few minutes. Anyone who spends time with me knows that my iPhone is my third hand, and in the 10 years I’ve had a phone, I have NEVER forgotten it at home. How we managed to be in the car for 15 minutes without me checking email, Facebook, or  Twitter is crazy enough, but it wasn’t until we were walking up to the church that I realized I left my phone at Shannon’s apartment. Immediately I felt naked, but since we were going to church and considering it was so early, I didn’t stress about it too much.

The message that day was about God having a hand in everything that happens in our lives no matter how big or small is seems. He goes through Bible verses and a few parables before telling us about his iPhone habits, which were pretty much identical to mine. One day he was heading to the gym and when he got to the end of his street, he realized he left his phone at home, but instead of turning around to get it, he decided to enjoy his work out and focus on other things going on in his life. My jaw dropped and Shannon gave me one of those “Yep, that sounds familiar” looks.

I know that may not sound like much because it’s so simple, but we ALL are so distracted by other things that sometimes we miss what happens right in front of  us. The reason I’m writing about coincidences is because after that service I reflected a lot about the last few years. I’ve had some pretty awesome experiences, and as crazy as it may sound, I can literally trace back the events that have happened to get me to where I am today.

I’m such a social person and talk to anyone– everyone has a story and I love hearing it. Plus, you never know what’s going on behind closed doors, so a kind word from a stranger can make all the difference in the world to someone. The most common question I hear is “how do you meet all these bands/famous people?” Truthfully, I have a hard time answering that. I’ve allowed guys to get in line at the bar for a drink who have ended up being bass players. I gave a young fan the guitar pick I found and was befriended by a tour manager because of the gesture. A tweet I sent got the attention of a band member who invited me to the show and granted me an interview. You honestly NEVER know who you will meet, but I believe these things happen to me because I’m so receptive to new people– I don’t believe it’s a coincidence these people were brought into my life.

So it got me thinking if anyone else has this internal debate. Has anything happened that you believed was just a coincidence, but later on realized if it hadn’t happened things in your life would be totally different?