Not Everything in Life Goes as Planned

Sometimes in life you realise you are in situations where you are not in control. And that makes you feel frustrated, helpless, and annoyed. You don’t know how to feel about it. And in the last one week, I’ve had two such moments back-to-back. Definitely not the greatest feeling.

The first thing was my parents’ visa getting rejected.

My parents were supposed to travel to the UK for my graduation from the London School of Economics. This was a big deal for me. I submitted over 100 pages of documents—proofs, financials, properties, ties to India, the purpose, the invitation letter, literally everything. And yet, the visa rejection letter said that in spite of all this, they “acknowledge” everything but still have “reasons to doubt.” And so the visa was denied.

You can’t appeal it.

You can’t question it.

And you can’t do anything about it.

I’m sure they have their own internal rules and classes that justify it from their side, but as a son who just wanted his parents to be here on one of the most important days of his life, it’s frustrating. It feels helpless. And it hurts because it’s something completely out of my hands.

The second moment came almost immediately after.

Because my parents weren’t travelling, I wanted to gift myself a small weekend trip—to recover, to reset. Watching the Northern Lights has always been a dream. It’s been on my bucket list forever. I even travelled to Finland earlier, but because of the weather, I couldn’t see them then.

So this time, I was determined.

Norway, Tromsø—the place with the highest chances of seeing the aurora.

I had also planned to meet a long-term customer partner of ours in Denmark after that.

A full 3–4 day trip.

I had a valid Schengen visa.

Travel booked. Stay booked. Commute booked.

I was all set.

I reached the airport on time. I stood in line at the desk to collect my boarding pass. And the staff just said:

“Sorry, we can’t allow you to board because your passport is expiring in three months.”

I was like, what the fuck?

I had a return ticket. The trip was literally for three days. I was coming back in three days. But she said this is Schengen rules—any person entering the region must have a minimum of three months validity left on their passport from the date of departure.

It was annoying and frustrating, but I still said thank you and walked out. I sat down, read more about it, and found out it was true. And once again, I was… helpless. One more condition where I couldn’t do anything about it.

And that’s the part that gets to me.

All my life, I’ve been someone who was always in control of my choices and decisions. When someone—or something—tells me I can’t do something because of a rule, a policy, or some bureaucratic technicality, it annoys me. It frustrates me. It makes me feel small in ways I don’t like to admit.

And honestly?

It sucks.

It really sucks to be in situations where you are not in control.

But maybe that’s just life.

There are so many things you can’t control.

And this week was a reminder of that.

I don’t have a big insight or a philosophical ending to this. I’m still processing the frustration. I’m still learning how to sit with the feeling of not being in control.

Maybe the only thing to say is:

Life gives you lemons—and sometimes, you just cannot make lemonade out of it.