The 'burnt toast theory' is all about accepting things that are out of your control.

When life doesn’t go as planned, it can be difficult to come to terms with what we think we lost; maybe you didn’t get a job you wanted, or a relationship ended and you were blindsighted. 

However, one creator took to Tiktok to explain what the ‘burnt toast theory’ is, and how it helped her view inconveniences as stepping stones to something better.

‘It’s really been helping me accept things that are out of my control,’ Ingrid (@offthe__grid) says as she explains the concept. ‘Burnt toast theory is the idea that if you burn your toast before work and it adds five to 10 minutes to your trip, it's actually saving you from something catastrophic. Maybe it’s saving you from a car accident, maybe it’s saving you from running into someone who you don’t want to run into.’

Although it is an apparently simple concept, internalizing the burnt toast theory is surprisingly helpful in accepting when things don’t go our way. It’s easy to think that we’re destined for misfortune or that good things will never happen for us, but accepting that the card you’re currently being dealt is part of a bigger, better picture can be relieving. 

‘This is the idea that inconveniences in our lives, or when something releases us in the universe, it's either saving us from something more detrimental or pushing us in the direction that we need to go in,’ Ingrid elaborates. ‘Of course you won’t know what the burnt toast saved you from, but that’s not the point; the point is to allow you to accept things in life that are completely out of your control.’
 

@offthe__grid Monday morning thoughts… shoutout to the internet for sharing this wisdom so passing it along 💖❤️‍🩹 #therapytiktok #advice #anxiousattachment #fyp ♬ original sound - Ingrid

If you find it hard to let go, you’re not the only one. Tiktok users took to the comment section to express themselves and agree with the idea. ‘I’ve finally accepted that inconveniences really work in our favour,’ one user said.

Another commented, ‘Firm believer that redirection is protection.’

While there is obviously no empirical evidence that the burnt toast theory works, it’s nevertheless useful to learn how to accept the natural flow of external circumstances. Plus, if it helps at least one person deal with their anxiety, then it certainly can’t be bad!

It’s like the age-old saying goes: if it’s out of your hands, it deserves freedom from your mind too.