Life isn't fair and that's okay (sort of)

Let’s be real for a second—life isn’t fair. And no matter how many times we’re told “everything happens for a reason,” sometimes it just… doesn’t feel that way. Someone less qualified gets the job you wanted. Someone who barely tries gets results while you’re giving 110% and still stuck in the same place. Meanwhile, the universe seems to be handing out rewards to people who didn’t even ask. Frustrating? Absolutely.

We grow up hearing that if we work hard, play nice, and do the right thing, things will fall into place. But adulthood quickly introduces a plot twist: doing everything “right” doesn’t guarantee anything. The truth? Life isn’t a vending machine where you insert kindness and hard work and get success and happiness in return.

So, what now—do we throw in the towel and stop trying? Not quite.

Here’s where the perspective shift comes in. Life being unfair doesn’t mean effort is meaningless. It just means we have to learn how to navigate a world that doesn’t always play by our internal rulebook. Instead of expecting the universe to reward us, we can focus on the one thing we can control: how we show up every day.

Keep showing up. Keep being kind. Keep giving your best—not because life is fair, but because that’s the kind of person you want to be.

And yes, sometimes you’ll get lucky. Sometimes things will go your way. Other times, they won’t. But building resilience in the face of that randomness is its own kind of power. It doesn’t mean accepting bad situations passively—it means choosing not to let them define you.

Also, it’s okay to feel frustrated. It’s okay to scream into a pillow, go for a rage-walk, or eat an unreasonable amount of ice cream. Pretending it’s all fine doesn’t make you stronger—acknowledging the unfairness and still moving forward does.

At the end of the day, life may not always be fair, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth living, fighting for, or finding joy in. It just means we’ve got to find meaning and purpose in the way we choose to live—not in what we think life “owes” us.

Because maybe the real win isn’t in life being fair—it’s in learning to thrive anyway.