When people tell me I’m lucky it annoys me a little. They see my success or what I’m doing and think it came easily and without effort. But it didn’t. I created my luck through hard work, through inner work, through facing my fears and going beyond, through making decisions and finding opportunities in the seemingly not so favorable circumstance.
Perhaps my response to the “you are lucky” comment should be, “You can be lucky too.”
I remember my mom sharing a similar sentiment. Our next door neighbor, Brian, had a lawn service and my mom was one of his clients. My mom retired at age 55 from a 30-year career as a teacher. Those who knew her only after her teaching career had ended, living a “life of leisure” during her golden years, saw her as lucky too. Brian was one such person.
I’m not sure if he came out called my mom lucky to her face. I think that my mom sensed that Brian seemed a little jealous about her comfortable lifestyle and that this was what bothered my mom.
Mommy paid her dues early on in her life earning a music scholarship through hours of daily piano practice. She earned her bachelor’s degree commuting to college 3 hours each day by bus. She slogged it out working for a school administration that was not cooperative for most of her 30-year career and was a dutiful caregiver to her elderly mom and sick husband for many years.
My mom had earned those last ten years of her life when she was free to do whatever she wanted without having to deal with the BS of work or take care of anyone. This was her luck.
My experience and my mom’s calls to mind a passage from James Allen’s book As a Man Thinketh.
“The thoughtless, the ignorant, and indolent, seeing only the apparent effects of things and not the things themselves, talk of law, of fortune, and chance. Seeing a man grow rich, they say, “How lucky he is!” Observing another become intellectual they exclaim, “How highly favored he is!” And noting the saintly character and wide influence of another, they remark, “How chance aids him at every turn!” They don’t see the trials and failures and the struggles which these men have voluntarily encountered in order to gain their experience; have no knowledge of the sacrifices they have made, of the undaunted efforts they have put forth, of the faith they have exercised, that they might overcome the apparently insurmountable, and realize the vision of their heart. They do not know the darkness and the heart aches; they only see the light and the Joy, and they call it “luck”; do not see the longing arduous journey, but only behold the pleasant goal, and call it “good fortune”; do not understand the process, but only perceive the result, and call it “chance”.”
You can be lucky too!
Patricia Brooks is a life experiences coach, speaker, and the author of Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life you Live. She is the host of the Discovering Courage Podcast where each week she explores how ordinary people have managed to live extraordinary lives. She will be releasing her second book, Live a Bold Life: 30 Days to Your Fearless Future, later in 2019. Patricia is currently living in France, pursuing her dreams.
Photo Credit: Amy Reed