The Reality of Bad Luck: Is it Really Bad Luck or Something Else?

Recently I have had a string of what felt like very bad luck: If it wasn't one thing it was another. I found myself using the phrase "if it weren't for bad luck; I would have no luck at all."

Looking back at the past few months it felt as if everything in my life had basically gone down the drain: my car died, I was in desperate need of a place to live and living in cheap motels praying that each week I would earn enough money from my various jobs to keep me with a bed to sleep in for another week. Every time that I neared something good, some kind of disaster would happen and I would find myself once again trying to dig myself out of something that seemed impossible to get through. Yet, each time, I did manage to make it another week and I did manage to come out just fine even if I was a bit more stressed than when I started but I was beginning to believe the adage about bad luck, I seemed to attrack it where ever I went.

I found myself having one heck of a good pity party: nothing ever came easy and everything had to have some kind of crazy road block before I could actually get to where I needed to be. I couldn't understand why I had such bad luck.

Recently, I found myself in a middle of one of those bad luck "disasters" that gave me an entirely new perspective on things. I had finally gotten myself into an apartment which of course had to come with at least one minor disaster and everything I owned was in storage almost three hundred miles away. I got into my recently purchased car that had replaced the one that died and headed to the lower peninsula of Michigan. I had everything in place: I made arrangements with family to stay with them, I had a check that I needed to cash at my old bank and enough money to get to where I was going as long as I didn't go crazy on the money. My car runs pretty darned well, so I really had little concern about car trouble.

About one hundred miles from my new home and two hundred miles from my destination I made a stop for gas. Happy as could be that the gas prices were much cheaper on the southern side of Michigan than they were in the Northern regions I filled my tank and got back in the car, ready to be on my way to see my family and gather some of my belongings. I turned the key in the ignition and waited to hear the engine engage instead I heard nothing. My heart dropped but I decided it was just a fluke and tried again; still nothing. I was in tears instantly. I had nobody close enough to come and get me and even though I have towing on my auto insurance, I have to pay up front and then wait for reimbursement. I didn't have enough to get towed let alone pay for repairs, just what I needed, more bad luck.

By chance, I had passed by the previous exit about ten miles sooner and ended up stopping in the small town where I ended up with a car that wouldn't start or even try to turn over. This gas station had some service people who installed mufflers and tires and the young man working inside tried to help me with little luck. He made a phone call to the repair shop two blocks away, got me a tow and told me where to go. My family helped me out with the cost of the tow until I could get my check cashed and offered to help me with the repairs. I was relieved but imaging huge bills to pay when all was said and done as the problem had become obvious. I knew I needed a new starter.

After arriving at the repair it took the mechanic less than three minutes to fix the starter that was so loose it should have fallen right off of the car. It was still in good shape and didn't need replaced. A few zip ties and adjustments later he gave me the total. Less than thirty five dollars. A family member was going to put the cost on his credit card for me when the mechanic said "Just mail me a check."

What are the chances of being an out of towner, a woman by herself who obviously knows nothing about cars and having car trouble in a place where it won't cost a minimum of five hundred dollars for a repair and then to have a total stranger trust you to mail a check? No, I don't have bad luck at all. That starter could have fallen off of my car in the middle of the freeway with my child inside of the car, I could have been stranded, I could have met up with a mechanic who would have raked me over the coals in repairs, so many things could have been, yet I ended up exactly where I needed to be at the right time around the right people. With each run of bad luck this is how it has gone for me over the past few months. I am not unlucky at all in fact, I am the luckiest person I know.

Take a look at any run of bad luck you have had. How did it end? Could it have been much worse? Was it really bad luck at all or was it possibly a power greater than yourself making sure you take care of a starter that could end up getting you killed if you don't take care of it?