This week, we had a Friday 13th. I hope it went at least okay enough for all of you and that nothing of genuine value to you was damned or doomed by this date believed to bring bad luck.
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| Flatliners (2017) |
Speaking of bad luck, is there really such a thing? Well… In some ways, yes, there is. Maybe not as some intangible, invisible, and/or supernatural force that hovers over you and follows you around everywhere to ruin or decrease your chances at anything good or great ever happening to you, but we can certainly say that there are people who are more fortunate or more unfortunate than others. And who knows, maybe you do have some sort of powerful entity dedicated to sabotaging you (besides you, if you're not doing that yourself).
Yet, there are times when what could seem like an inexplicable phenomenon that you can only call “bad luck” is in fact a reality that can be pinpointed. And until you do, it might be driving you mad, wondering what on earth is wrong with you. Why is God or the universe so against you? What could you have possibly done to deserve this?
Life is… complicated. Everyone and everything is constantly responding to a number of factors that we may not even be able to fully take into account yet. Maybe you have a sign on your back that says “Kick me” and you haven’t realized it. And no, I’m not victim-blaming you if you do and jerks around you think it’s funny if they go ahead with it. But it might be in your best interests to notice and remove it if that’s the case. Similarly, maybe you’re not repeatedly tripping, slipping, and falling down because you're clumsy or have bad luck, but because there are no signs around, in any form, warning and cautioning you about the floor or ground that you’re currently on. Maybe... there’s a lot of unspoken rules that you know little or nothing about. And then you can’t understand why things go the way they do.
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| Alice in Borderland (2020) |
Still, life, on many levels, is a game of chance. What cards were you dealt and how bad are the odds for you? Maybe you got “lucky” and got winning cards that put you at a significant advantage. Maybe you didn’t, but you can still play them to the best of your ability and not lose completely. Or maybe the same hand of cards that make you a loser in a particular game will make you a winner in another.
But what if it’s not that random? What if, before coming into this world, you chose your difficulty and you set it on Hard. Or worse yet, on Expert. Looking for a challenge. And that’s why you seem to have “Bad Luck”. Crazy, right? I’m just saying. What if. Maybe you have a tendency towards doing that.
Then again, it is also possible that your perceived bad luck is just that: a matter of perception. You could be overlooking all the many different things that are working in your favor while fixating on those that are not. And yes, as the saying goes, sometimes when a door closes, it is because another, better one for you, is opening. Also, don’t get me started with the whole “be careful what you wish for” deal; it may be that what you desired is waiting on the other side of a bunch of undesirable things and you put yourself on that path.
Or you could indeed be cursed. Whatever that means. It sure can feel like that if you've gone through anything like A Series of Unfortunate Events.
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| The Empty Man (2020) |
How many mirrors have you broken? How many ladders have you walked under? How many black cats have you encountered (or even adopted)? How many important decisions have you made and how many endeavors have you taken on a Friday 13th? I’m not ‘superstitious’ enough to fear these things but neither am I all-knowing to say with absolute certainty that they do not bring any bad luck. What I can say is that black cats are lovely creatures regardless (this I would know).
Part of me wonders how much worse my “luck” would have been if I had messed with an Ouija board. That's one step in my list of ventures into the forbidden that I never took. However, I’m at a point in my life where I’d rather not find out through first-hand experience. Restless spirits and malicious demons that’d be out to destroy me, I have boundaries now. Watch me draw a circle of salt.
In all seriousness, though, whether you’re an irremediable risk-taker or a “better safe than sorry” type of guy or gal, please remember to be mindful of when too much is too much for you and when it is or is not worth it to you. Wouldn’t advise perishing completely in the pursuit of a mere thrill, exhilarating as they may be, enveloped by "bad luck".
How’s your luck? Do you actively take measures that could improve it?