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Original poster

Do you consider yourself lucky or unlucky?

56 replies

FreeBritnee · 08/07/2021 14:37

I’ve been pondering this for quite a while. I consider myself pretty unlucky. Lots of bad things have happened to me in my life and generally I’m the sort of person that won’t win competitions or prizes or hardly ever get a win on the Premium Bonds etc.

My partner on the other hand is a pretty jammy sod. However I think I’m starting to taint his luck, like I’m a bad omen and it’s starting to worry me 😬

Do you believe in luck or do you think it all comes down to perception or generating your own luck, making lemonade out of lemons etc. I would t say I’m a pessimistic person generally, more of a realist, but I’m absolutely not an optimist that’s for sure!

OP posts:

Zebrahooves · 08/07/2021 23:08

I'm not lucky. Work wise, health wise or just general luck. Even people I have worked with have sarcastically named me lucky. Anything I have got, is through sheer bloody hard work.

Justkeepleft · 08/07/2021 23:24

Lucky.
Even bad luck folds into good luck.
Before covid hit I was going to sit the test for a qualification and get job hunting after being sahm. Bad luck covid struck.
Good luck I got to help my dd with home learning and focus on the areas she didn't always get time to absorb in class.
Dh could keep working and home was stable.

Sometimes the universe just lines it up. We had a rotten 3 weeks one year with life changing events we could not control. In its own weird way it worked out and there were points I was shaking my head at how lucky we were.

Kanaloa · 08/07/2021 23:59

I’m lucky. I have a theory about it though, that your perception of luck is based on your previous experiences in life.

My friend grew up quite privileged and had a lot, went to private school and everything, but went off the rails a bit in high school and didn’t stick in at school. Her parents refused to financially support her and she ended up in a low paid job and is now going back to school years later.

I grew up in care, got pregnant very young then managed to get myself a job and go back to school. I feel really lucky while I think she feels quite unlucky, because I’ve always thought things can only improve, whereas I think she sees things as much worse than what she had before/could have had.

CrackOnOrGoHome · 09/07/2021 00:10

Unlucky. And in the past few weeks I have become increasingly depressed by it and so tired of putting on a brave face and smiling through it. I've had this week off work and have barely been able to get out of bed with the weight of it all.

NuffSaidSam · 09/07/2021 00:15

Lucky.

I think part of it is down to perception though.

And also what sort of scale of luck you're looking at. If you include all 7 billion people of earth, I think even just living in the UK probably puts you top 50%, so lucky rather than unlucky.

But also I am definitely lucky.

TheSmallAssassin · 09/07/2021 00:23

I remember hearing a hypothetical situation

You go to the bank one lunchtime and it gets held up by armed robbers. You get shot in the arm.

Unlucky people think "I'm so unlucky, I got shot in the arm"

Lucky people think "Wow, I'm so, lucky I only got shot in the arm".

I feel lucky.
Though I still hope I won't get shot in the arm

familychallenge · 09/07/2021 00:48

Not sure if this is a good answer but it's how I see it:

I could write my life story two ways. In one you would think I was incredibly privileged - private school, educated parents, well paid job and financial security, close family. In the other you would think I was highly disadvantaged- single parent family, absent father with criminal convictions, free school meals and childhood poverty, failed relationships, parent with dementia now. Both are true. I consider myself incredibly lucky in the opportunities I have had and the love I have in my life: some things have not worked out as I would like. If you brand yourself overall as lucky or unlucky to me you are taking quite a passive role in your life and understating the role you take in grasping the opportunities and challenges life gives you. I don't think it's very helpful. Most of us have good and bad things happen- try to cope with both!

EileenGC · 09/07/2021 00:51

Lucky to have a job, a bed to sleep in, and as much food as I need, on a daily basis.
Lucky to have incredible friends around me, and people who make life worth living.
Lucky to live in a country where I’m not persecuted for my beliefs and choices.

Now, pretty unlucky when it comes to draws, or the card reader at the supermarket actually working when it’s my turn to pay for my shop. Nothing I can do about that

Mintjulia · 09/07/2021 01:11

Lucky, definitely.I have a beautiful son conceived when I was 44. I have a job I actively enjoy. We are healthy and have a comfortable home. I was made redundant last year but managed to find another good job at 57.

I am grateful every day.

Floralnomad · 09/07/2021 01:18

When I was nursing I was caring for a leading figure in the local spiritualist church ( I don’t believe in that type of thing at all ) and her last words were ‘you will always be lucky’ . I didn’t actually catch what she said but the HCA that was with me did and was convinced that she was talking straight at me . I don’t think I’m actually lucky , but I do have a very optimistic outlook on life and I think it can amount to the same thing .

Riapia · 09/07/2021 01:53

It’s very unlucky to be superstitious.

vampirethriller · 09/07/2021 06:22

I'm very lucky. I've survived attempted murder, serious illness, suicide attempt. I was homeless and an addict but now I'm clean, living with my daughter and my dog and going back to college in September. I had my daughter after 10 miscarriages. I'm the luckiest woman alive

samthebordercollie · 09/07/2021 06:29

There have been studies done on this, and it was found that optimists are luckier and pessimists are unluckier. Optimists will take an opportunity when it appears and pessimists don't. So to some degree (of course it isn't everything - bad health etc.) it's true that you make your own luck.

Thisusedtobeaniceneighbourhood · 09/07/2021 06:35

It’s entirely a perception thing. All of us have things that make life easier or harder, but it’s mostly down to how we look at things and I agree with the PP who suggested that comparison with adult and childhood lives helps.

I feel extraordinarily lucky a lot of the time, I am educated, with a good job and live a fairly privileged life. But I grew up on a council estate, with a parent with disabilities, and so haven’t had much parental support financially or with children etc.

I once commented to a friend that I understood that we were lucky (to live in a big house etc), and she was like ‘no, you’re disciplined. I’ve seen the way you think carefully about spending money, take very modest holidays’ etc etc. Her take was that other people could have done what we did but their outlook and priorities are different.

I still think there is an element of ‘luck’ in terms of right place, right time, but there has also been incredible hard work and discipline to get to those ‘right places’

My DH, who is the kind of person who is never satisfied, probably doesn’t feel lucky in the same way that I do. But then I think he has a different background to me and probably feels a bit more entitled.

Teaandbicciesplease · 09/07/2021 06:37

Unlucky in that I was born to abusive parents and that set the scene for some spectacularly bad life choices! But I have my health (so far) and two healthy children and consider myself incredibly lucky in that way.

corkernewyorker · 09/07/2021 06:42

I tend to to think that it is all a matter of perception., but having said that I had a friend who had the most incredible run of bad luck lasting several years. It actually got to the point where I couldn't help but think 'what now' when she rang. She was a longtime friend who had never been 'unlucky' before.

lollipoprainbow · 09/07/2021 06:46

There are definitely people in life who are just born lucky. Some people seem to breeze through life without anything awful happening and others get shat on from a great height constantly. Life is unfair.

Acatnamedfox · 09/07/2021 06:56

Lucky, I’m so lucky, one of the luckiest people I know.

It’s joked along friends ‘Acats luck’, if I crash my car it’s into the local mechanic who agrees to sort things off insurance for a deal - true story.

I feel so blessed and although I do have bad days and bad luck sometimes I laugh them off thinking it’s a my turn for a bit before my luck goes back.

I believe @Kanaloa has hit the nail on the head a bit though, I had a really abusive childhood (almost non existent with my alcoholic father and suicidal mother) and I just honestly see every day as a blessing now, I’ve never been happier and I just thank every day as I’m not that scared beaten child anymore.

To be honest I am not down playing anyone’s bad luck, I feel awful for those suffering but I am an optimist and a very happy person and I think this has something to do with it.

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/07/2021 07:12

Dh is very unlucky, nothing ever goes right for him and it upsets me a lot.

Mansplainee · 09/07/2021 07:12

It’s mostly about perspective I feel. DH and I often comment that we feel very lucky to have everything that we have in life. I think it’s good to acknowledge that a lot of these things do come down to luck, even if there was also an element of hard work involved too.

For example, I have a career that I’m very happy with, I’ve worked very hard to get there, but I can also recognise that I’ve been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of opportunities. I also feel very lucky to have DD, especially when I see friends go through fertility issues.

I think there are a lot of successful people out there who look down on others who haven’t achieved as much. They would do well to remember that a lot of the good things in life come down to chance, or privilege!

Arsebucket · 09/07/2021 07:21

The only “good” thing about having a crap, unlucky life is that nothing upsets me now.

I just think “oh yeah, what now” when something bad happens. Which it always does. And i know people go on about it being self fulfilling, but it’s everything and anything. and me being positive couldn’t possibly change the outcome (family illness etc, I didn’t cause my dads dementia and the impact it’s had on me by being negative).

So, I always just expect the worst now and if it turns out okay, it’s a bonus.

AWiseWomanOnceSaidFuckThisShit · 09/07/2021 07:21

Lucky

Am (touch wood) pretty healthy. Health is wealth. Have amazing parents and family. Good friends. A lovely house. A bit of money, enough to buy a £300 leather jacket in a split second or fuck off abroad. Nice hair. Have never been abused. I don't take these things for granted. Ever.

Unlucky

Have had my heart smashed to pieces romantically several times and am scarred for life, it hurts every single day. As for competitions - I couldn't win gonorrhoea. Have unique and distressing "body abnormalities" that nobody could ever relate to. A horrible nasal voice. Awful social anxiety and misophonia.

Swings and roundabouts dear x

Original poster

FreeBritnee · 09/07/2021 07:25

So, I always just expect the worst now and if it turns out okay, it’s a bonus

Complete same! I will always organise myself for the worst case scenario and then I can deal with everything that’s coming.

OP posts:

TheLovelinessOfDemons · 09/07/2021 07:25

Lucky.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba · 09/07/2021 07:29

I have had bad things happen to me but overall I consider myself very lucky.

but I prefer to call it blessed

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