How to tell the future

and other unfortunate events

It’s 8:37pm on Sunday, a small handful of days before I’m supposed to publish this week’s Wednesday main post and…

I can’t bring myself to write it.

For the past week, some looming family news has been preoccupying my mind, and tomorrow (Monday) morning is when the person that needs to hear it (and will learn the looming news), will.

And I’ve just been functioning this whole week with a thin, sheer sheet of fear covering me.

Even though I can’t find the words or mental energy to work on any of the newer drafts for this week, I did wanna talk about something that’s been on my mind this week: the unfortunate magic of being able to tell the future.

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So God of War: Ragnarok. If you’ve read my Monthly Musings for January, you would’ve heard me gush about just watching a YouTube gamer play this game.

It’s a beautifully-written masterpiece that covers grief, parenting, changing for the better, and more. But the thing I was most recently able to take from the game was when the main character (Kratos) and his small crew went to visit the Norns of Fate—fortune tellers—to see what he needed to look out for in his future.

Kratos, the Norns, and Freya from God of War: Ragnarok game

The three Norns lived underwater in a golden-tinted, seaweed-lined fortress, and were able to tell what their visitors were going to say and do next, as well as tell them about the future ahead.

But they brought up the point that they weren’t necessarily telling the future. They were so good at predicting the outcomes of people and events because of how predictable the person’s nature was.

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I’d written so many journal entries physically and online around the time my mom was told things were getting worse. Her reaction to me telling her that there were so many more treatments available now for what she was about to go through that would extend her life decades longer, told me that her new chapter was gonna be way shorter than any of us would like. And unfortunately, I was right.

Her nature told me all I needed to know about the patterns that would play out, ultimately leading her to what I still believe is a premature demise.

And the nature of the person who’s about to hear their news tomorrow has their own nature that’s so predictable, that we’re all fearing the outcome of this person just hearing the news, let alone that day forward.

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In the game God of War: Ragnarok, it’s constantly shown to us that we always have a choice. We can change.¹

Death is inevitable, but making choices that can cause you more harm than healing or aid ultimately paves your path.

I’m witnessing that—more and more—how people can live on autopilot. How scary denial can get. How powerful the brain is.

How powerful self-awareness is.

This is the work and the mission I live for. To eventually help people begin to learn and understand the power they hold within them (yes, even as a Christian who wants to keep Christ as the focal point of their life).

The work to share and teach others will come eventually, but for now, I have family I need and want to be present for.

It’s so sad to see when a person’s nature leads to destruction. And a lot of the time that’s because of the choices they decide to make.

Thanks so much for reading this short piece I wrote on the fly in the Substack editor. I appreciate you being here, and I’ll hopefully see you next week.

If you’d like to hear this post narrated, you can become a paid subscriber today, or buying me a one-time matcha is cool too. :)

1. Kratos went from being a VERY hot-headed killer of gods to wanting seclusion, and to raise his son Atreus. But even in this game his old nature and patterns were tested. He KNEW he needed to change to be better, but at times that’s easier said than done.