What Real Luck Is

A four-leafed clover and a rabbit’s foot are both considered to be lucky in the world of wive’s tales. You may have your lucky pair of underwear you wear to every big presentation or a lucky pair of socks you wear to every race. But real luck has nothing to do with superstition. Real luck is not determined by the stain on your shirt that looks like Abraham Lincoln that causes your favorite team to win every time you wear it. Real luck has everything to do with an honest assessment of your life and where you are in the present moment. Chances are if you’re reading this, you are one of the one percent most lucky people in the world. That’s a reality and reality is what real luck is.

Real luck is not necessarily bound by chance and the “lucky breaks” that help people fast-track their lives. Real luck is the idea that you were born in the United States, or another affluent country instead of the country that popped into your head when you thought of the contrary. Real luck is realizing that no one has a perfect relationship with their parents, but if they love you and you love them, you are extremely lucky. Real luck is appreciating that you can flush your toilet and turn on a faucet to get water. The water you get is drinkable and does not need to be boiled beforehand. This concept would be seen as magic to so many people in the world, yet in your daily life, you probably don’t think twice about the luck you have.

Real luck examples can be pulled from several other areas but the key to realizing the luck you have is by pausing and being in the present moment. When you fill-up your water bottle without having to hike miles, pause and think about that alternative reality. You are lucky. When you are sitting on a bench on a trail in the mountains reading a book, pause and think about where you are. Look around the trees and nature around you and accept how lucky you are to be in that situation. The alternative reality is you are stuck in a country where economically a vacation is never possible or where you are fearful for your life every day.

Real luck does not diminish the idea that you can have bad things happen to you. Bad things happen to everyone. Real luck also doesn’t claim the idea that “someone can always have it worse than you.” While that is a true statement, it isn’t needed to accept how lucky you are. All you need to do to accept the real luck you have is pause, think, and appreciate. You are all lucky. You are all luckier than you think you are. Ditch the rabbit’s foot and appreciate the actual luck in your life.