Bad luck can be pretty difficult to cope with, particularly when it seems to be targeting you and no one else.
My mother always said that bad luck comes in bouts of three. It does often seem that way, too, though perhaps I have convinced myself of this theory.
There have been times on a two-string streak of bad luck where I end up hanging around waiting for the third to come along. Negative thinking.
You lose your phone, then get hit with an unexpected bill, and then fall over and bump your knee. Told you!
But it's just a belief. It isn't a real thing. It's all in the mind.
And that is the thing about dealing with bad luck, and getting over it: it is all about mindset.
When we encounter bad luck, we immediately begin to question what we have done wrong to attract such bad luck into our lives.
When bad things keep happening, we question “why me”?
Even though you are trying to be a good person and do the right things in life, bad luck is following you around as if it was some sort of punishment.
Of course, this gives rise to a belief in karma and some sort of spiritual retribution; perhaps for past life wrongdoings, or wrongdoings that you have inadvertently committed in some way.
Keeping it Real
But let's be frank about this.
There are 7.6 billion people in the world.
Someone has to lose their job, someone has to break their leg, someone has to get a huge phone bill that they weren't expecting, someone has to miss a flight because they were stuck in a taxi, someone has to get their visa application refused.
You get the picture.
We all experience bad luck. But like wealth, bad luck is relative.
Your version of bad luck might be someone else's version of a pretty normal day.
By and large, unless you die, or someone you know dies, or is diagnosed with some horrible illness, there is usually someone far worse off than yourself.
That truth, in itself, is usually enough to kick you into positive action and take control of your direction.
The Self-Blame Game
But rather than letting go of the bad luck and moving on with a positive mindset that things will get better, we often enter the self-blame game.
We stop moving forward and begin looking backwards. We begin questioning why this event took place: what could I have done differently, what events could have occurred that would have produced a different outcome.
Then we begin to question ourselves on a more personal level: am I not good enough? Am I not deserving of good things? Am I doomed to fail?
We spend a lot of time and energy in this headspace. This causes stress, anxiety and sleepless nights.
We walk around all gloomy, with a very negative outlook on life, low confidence and low self esteem.
So it is no surprise that we begin to attract more of the same.
Negative energy will always attract negative energy.
It is no coincidence that successful people in both their personal and professional capacities are generally positive people who believe that things are going to get better and work out for the best, regardless of the decisions they have made.
So if you find yourself in this self-blame state of mind, you must immediately take steps to take yourself out of it.
How to Move Forward, Positively
When you are in a run of bad luck, there is only one thing you can do, and that is to move forward.
To keep thinking about what you could have done differently and what might have happened if a different set of circumstances had occurred just keeps rubbing salt in the wound.
You are causing yourself more pain.
More often than not, in the grander scheme of things, you are making a mountain out of a molehill.
You are essentially making the event bigger than it needs to be.
You are breathing new life into something that has already come and gone.
You are allowing the bad luck to dictate your present situation, and ultimately your future.
You are re-living the events over and over in your head, and in doing so stopping yourself moving forward.
You must let go. Blaming and questioning yourself makes you static in life and bound to the past.
These things are sent to try us and test our resolve. Talk to anyone of 60+ about this very subject and they will pretty much tell you exactly what I am writing here.
These things do make you stronger.
These experiences will shape your life.
We all have to go through our fair share of bad luck.
But what separates those who stop letting bad luck hold them back from those who are unable to get over these experiences, is the fact that they are able to remain present, create a plan of action and move forward – positively.
Nothing in the past can help you right now. That bad luck has happened, it's done and gone.
Take Action Now!
So grab a pen and a piece of paper, and start mapping out the steps you’re going to take to move forward and make positive things happen in your life.
Whether you need to find a new job or want to start dating again, or you want to re-sit an exam or re-take your driving test; whatever it is, start formulating a plan immediately.
Consider exactly what it is you need to do to get from the situation you're in now to the situation you want to be in.
Using a new job as an example: the first step would be to create a new resume. Spend the day researching how to create an awesome resume. Really put a lot of hard work into making it stand out from everyone else's.
Then create a list of companies that you would love to work for. This will be your hit-list of companies to contact over the next few days.
Then you might choose to join some job agencies who will do some of the searching for you.
The next step might be to personally deliver your resume to those companies on your hit-list: Put on some smart clothes, get yourself down there, knock on the door, introduce yourself and hand over your resume.
Literally get your foot in the door. Those companies that you can't reach on foot, phone them up and enquire about vacancies, or email them and mail over your resume.
You get the idea here.
This is about picking yourself up off the floor and being proactive. It is about going out there and taking action to change the course of your life.
The only person that can put a stop to this run of bad luck is YOU.
Make your plan, get yourself into bed nice and early, and wake up early and make a fresh start. Everything looks brighter after a good sleep and an early start.
Turn over a new leaf, start writing a new chapter in the book of your life.
Make a commitment right now to not let bad luck dictate your life and lead you passively into more of the same.
Turn the corner now and make it happen. Before you know it, you’ll be in a much better place.
