Chips fall…
There is almost nothing you can do about it.
You can’t control outcomes.
You can’t decide how people will respond.
You can’t make life land neatly where you hoped it would.
You can do the right thing.
You can also do the wrong thing—and yes, that can influence where the chips fall.
But even then, the truth remains: most of it is out of your hands.
Chips fall based on people’s perspectives, not reality.
They fall on emotions instead of facts.
They fall because of character flaws or character strengths—yours and theirs.
Selfishness may push them one way.
Selflessness might give them a chance to land better.
But even that is no guarantee.
If we’re honest, where the chips fall is mostly out of our control.
And they almost never land where we thought they would.
What we expected…
What we planned for…
What we prayed would happen…
Sometimes it’s not even close.
So much of life lives in that uncertainty.
But here’s what is in your control:
You can navigate where they fall with integrity.
If the chips land where you hoped, enjoy it.
That’s a gift.
And if they fall in a painful place—
a disappointing place—
a place you never wanted—
You navigate in such a way that you are not the reason they end up there again.
I think that’s the point, isn’t it?
Living your life so that when the chips fall in the wrong places,
you can say—through grief and tears—
I did everything I could to do what was right.
That’s how you live with yourself while you grieve where they landed.
That’s how you move forward while navigating the mess they created.
You keep your integrity intact.
Because sometimes, in the middle of loss,
that’s all you have left.
Chips fall.
Sometimes in good places.
Sometimes not.
But they fall nonetheless.
phillipbrande.com 