Thursday, February 19, 2015

Luck O' The Irish

"The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself"
Douglas MacArthur

I'll come right out and say it- I don't believe in luck. I believe you make your own luck. Your success and failure can be attributed to many things but not to luck. I bring this up because I tend to be told often how "lucky" I am for certain things I have. Sorry, luck had nothing to do with most of my life. Making the proper choices or circumstances that have nothing to do with luck did. Here's the ones I hear most often and my rebuking of the "luck" of the situation

"You're lucky you don't have to shovel (mow the lawn, rake, etc etc etc)". Wrong. When I got myself off the canvas financially with a big assist from my mom and was looking to buy a home I weighed the options on a house versus a condo and chose condo. No luck whatsoever rather a calculated decision

"You're lucky you have parking in the city". Wrong. See above. I would not have purchased a condo without parking

"You're lucky you've never been out of work". Wrong. No luck at all. I work my ass off every day and have for 26 years. I have tried to always bring new things to the table to make my relationship with my job one that's mutually beneficial. I feel my own success and the success of my employer are in direct correlation. And trust me, there were many years when I had to listen to "you're still doing that"! I proudly say "yup, been gainfully employed for 26 straight years, can you say the same"

"You're lucky you don't get sick" Wrong. Well, diabetes aside. I get sick like everyone else I just have a different definition of sick then many. A cold won't keep me from work or doing something I want to do. Plus it's not luck, it's genetics. I come from healthy stock. Lastly it's mind over matter in many cases and your level of sick is directly related to how important what you want or need to do is to you

"You're lucky you only have to worry about you and not a wife or kids"...I'm not even going to dignify this one with an answer

"You're lucky you come from a good family" Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. My parents are/were awesome people who came from awesome people so that reduced the odds of them sucking dramatically. Both came from nothing and worked hard to raise their children properly. Not sure where luck comes into play there. If you want to put a name on it you could say "blessed". That's closer to the truth

I know the whole "lucky" thing is just a throw away line to describe envy over certain parts of someones advantages or fortunes. It just chaps my ass to hear about how "lucky" I am for what in most cases are scenarios I have/had total control over. Well maybe I'll get lucky and won't have to hear this claptrap any more