Fate or coincidences?

Fate is a hard thing for me to grasp. It is baffling to me that ones life could be a course of predetermined events. I can't wrap my head around the idea that my whole life has been planned out and that my actions have no effect on what happens to me. I do believe that things happen for a reason, but I don't underestimate an individual's power to control their own lives. I believe that events in my life have happened for a reason and that if I make the best decisions possible and work my hardest to be the best person I can be, my life will fall in to place. 

I really found myself relating to John Anderton from Minority Report. Anderton catches a glimpse of his future when precogs predict that he will murder a man named Leo Crow in 36 hours. Although he has been set up and it was not him who murdered Leo Crow in the vision, I still related to his effort to change his future. What I took away from Minority Report in terms of life lessons is that nobody's future is never set in stone, and that everyone has the power to take control of their own life. I don't think that the example of fate In Oedipus is very realistic. Oedipus being doomed to his fate despite any of his actions seems unrealistic to me but also very tragic.