A number of years ago, I watched a Robin Williams' film having to do with death and dying (What Dreams May Come)
The main thought behind this movie speaks to the possibility that when we die, we go to a heaven of our own choosing. What if instead of death being our own choosing ... it is life that is of our own choosing. I first thought about something similar to this as a child when I first read about reincarnation. What if the purpose of each life was to learn lessons which would allow us to approach godhead.
In various places there have been suggestions of the likelihood that we are experiencing computer simulations (which would account for the Mandela Effect). Essentially we are part of a massive SimCity following a series of actions dictated by parameters entered by some future humans or suitably advanced entity.
An alternative can be found by going down the rabbit hole of Near Death Experiences. Many people report meeting up with inquisitors (?) who non-judgmentally review your life with you. They also describe how you negotiate with other people on some astral plane to create the script of your life. Your life is the script that you choose. Imagine you are a parent whose child dies at an early age. Your entity and the child's entity negotiate its brief appearance in your life. People who experience lives of hardship or disability do so through choice ... to test aspects of their wyrd.
I don't suggest either view is true but it does make an interesting What if.