Good luck on your luck...

Good luck.  What bad luck.  Luck.  You have lucky genes.  You are so lucky.  Man, what bad luck you've been having.  I have grown to despise this word over the past couple years.  I don't believe in luck.  I believe that things are exactly the way they are supposed to be.  And even more than that, I believe you have a say in it.

Take for example, my recent diagnosis of cervical cancer.  I heard so often that I had bad luck.  Then, one week after my surgery, I wound up in the ER with gastritis.  After that, I got sick for two weeks.  Then, to add insult to injury, I injured my knee on a run.  And all of this can be chalked up to bad luck?  Not in my world.  The way I choose to see it, it's all happening for a reason.  Maybe I don't know exactly why, but I would go mad if I just blamed it on bad luck.  If it's just bad luck, then I wouldn't learn anything.  It wouldn't be an opportunity...it would just be an unfortunate experience.  Having cancer so early on taught me so much, I will never be able to blog it or explain it.  But, it changed my life for the better.  Because I chose to see it as an opportunity and not just bad luck.

Another example.  When I started doing triathlons, I did well from the very first one.  In fact, I won my age division on my first tri!  And I still hear, to this day, how lucky I am that I do well in these events.  As if I show up and race with no preparation, just luck.  I don't pack all my gear, I just fill my race bag with some luck and wind up on the podium.  No consideration to the blood, sweat and time I have spent training.  It's all luck, right?

Well, truth be told, I don't really buy in to luck, good or bad.  Luck does not define your life.  YOU define your life.  Luck will not dictate your fate in this world.  If you have bad things going on, learn from them.  Take a chance to look and see why these things might be present.  Read the writing on the wall, instead of turning a blind eye.  If you are doing well, soak it up.  It's not luck that got you there...it's YOU and your hard work that got you there.  Luck is fortune (whether bad or good) which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will, intention, or desired result.  Well, I must beg to differ in context to having any luck in my life.  My life is under my control and my results are a product of hard work!  So, next time you hear, "Good luck!" consider responding with, "Luck will have no part in this."  And then go kick ass!