Trusting Life When You Don’t Know the Outcome
Learning What Trust Really Means
In the final weeks of December, just before Christmas, I experienced something that again changed how I understand trust in life, and trust in the universe. It wasn’t a dramatic revelation or a mystical event. It was quiet, uncomfortable, and deeply human. It showed me how little trust I truly had, and how heavy life becomes when you believe that everything rests solely on your shoulders.
We often grow up with the notion that the universe is unconscious, that there is no guiding intelligence behind life, no underlying order, no rules or principles shaping our experience. And if you truly believe that, then it’s no wonder so many people live in constant anxiety. If you think literally everything lies in your hands, then you feel responsible for all that happens to you. Every delay, every obstacle, every uncertainty feels like a personal failure. That is simply too heavy a psychological burden to carry as a limited human being with imperfections.
Things begin to change the moment you shift your mindset and allow yourself to believe that life unfolds according to certain principles, that events happen to the best of outcomes for you, even if you cannot yet see how. Once you convince yourself of that notion, something inside you softens. You relax. You gain the necessary trust in life. Not because everything suddenly becomes easy, but because you no longer feel alone against the universe.
The Heavy Burden of Believing Everything Is Up to You
When you adopt a worldview in which nothing guides life, where there is no underlying intelligence or order, anxiety becomes almost unavoidable. A nihilistic view that nothing matters and that everything is random may appear intellectually honest, but it does not align with our lived experience. It just can’t be true based on our intuitions and what life repeatedly shows us.
Certain things are simply not in your control, no matter how hard you try. You can plan, prepare, and do everything “right,” and still be met with uncertainty. Fighting that truth only creates suffering. Trusting life, on the other hand, means accepting that not everything is yours to manage, and that this is not a weakness but a relief.
It may sound like wishful thinking to say that everything happens for the best possible outcome, but honestly, believing that nothing matters is far more destructive. Trust is not about denying reality. It is about acknowledging that you are part of something larger than your own limited perspective. It is fair enough to trust the process, to trust the universe, and to believe that everything will unfold as it needs to, even if you don’t realize yet how this unfolding is ultimately placing you in a better position than before.
Waiting for a Letter and Meeting My Own Impatience
In the final week leading up to Christmas 2025, I found myself waiting for an important letter required to finalize my wedding. I had received confirmation that the document had been sent and that it was on its way. Objectively, everything was fine. And yet, it was taking longer than I expected.
I had requested that the document be sent on Tuesday. By Thursday it hadn’t arrived. Not on Friday either. And suddenly, panic appeared. My mind began spinning, creating negative scenarios, imagining obstacles that didn’t yet exist. Only then did I realize how exaggerated my reaction was. There was no real reason to assume something had gone wrong.
It was the Christmas period, after all. Postal services were slower than usual. The Standesamt wouldn’t be lying to me. The letter was clearly going to arrive sooner or later. So why couldn’t I just relax? Why couldn’t I use this moment to train myself in patience, to receive the letter with trust instead of fear?
The impatience obsessed me. I wondered why my mind was portraying me as a victim, why it was filling the silence with catastrophic thoughts, when all I was really doing was waiting for a legal document that was already on its way. The experience revealed how quickly we sabotage our own peace when trust is missing.
Trust Is Not Superstition, It’s Letting Life Unfold
That impatience and anxiety showed me once again the importance of trust in life. Trust is not magical thinking. It is not superstition. It is a deep understanding that life is guided by rules and principles that unfold when you give the universe time and space to act.
I cannot explain this fully in rational terms, but instinctively we know it to be true: more often than not, we simply have to remove ourselves from the way. Our petty worries, our constant interference, our anxiety and impatience often prevent the best possible scenarios from unfolding naturally.
The letter eventually arrived. Not on Friday, but on Saturday. Perfectly timed so that I could process my wedding further on Monday. Everything went well. Nothing was ever truly at risk. The only thing that suffered during those two days was my inner peace.
Had I trusted the process from the beginning, had I waited in patience and trust instead of resistance, I would have spared myself unnecessary stress, worry, and emotional exhaustion. Life did exactly what it needed to do - without my panic.
Action, Letting Go, and Trusting Yourself Through Life
Trusting life automatically leads you to trust in yourself. The two are inseparable. If you trust the universe, you must also trust that you are capable of handling whatever comes your way.
I realized that the best antidote to anxiety and fear is action. At its core, anxiety is the feeling of being stuck, of having no choice, no exit. That is what fills us with terror. Action, even imperfect action, gives you your power back. It may not provide immediate clarity, but at least you did something. You moved. And once you move, you can no longer accuse yourself of helplessness.
This is where freedom appears. This is where peace of mind begins to grow. You act, and then you let go. You wait. You allow the universe to unfold. The universe will approach you two steps if you take one step yourself.
Just do something. Help the universe help you by performing the first deed, the first action. The reward may not come in the way you imagined, but it will come in the way that best serves your current situation. Trust is not about being naïve. It is about growing out of the naïve belief that we can do everything alone.
We are not the masters of life. Partly, we never were. We can only arrange ourselves with circumstances and make the best of the cards we’ve been dealt. And the fastest way to do that - to find happiness, calmness, and peace of mind - is to start with trust.
Trust in life. Trust in yourself. And let the rest unfold.
