2021 – Bet on the New Year

A few days ago, I performed one of my least favorite activities: grocery shopping. When I came back and unloaded the goods at home, as I unpacked the grapes for New Year’s Eve, my son asked “Are we still doing that?” What he referred to is our tradition of eating 12 grapes at the start of the New Year for luck.

He wondered why we were still doing it, because as he sarcastically put it, “It worked out so great for us last time.”

Rude or not, he made a fair point. How lucky have I been, really? If I look back, I could say I’ve had shit luck. Historically speaking. What of those years when I purposefully tried to force the hand of luck in my direction?

I think back to how many years we sat around with those grapes in hand, shoveling them in and wishing hard on things that to date I never received, or achieved. My son has it right. It’s a pointless endeavor to believe in luck or even attempt to rely on it.

As luck would have it

Today at work they raffled off the last prizes from the Holiday giveaways. My luck is so shite that I didn’t even get my hopes up that I would win.

The final prize was open to anyone who could answer the quiz question which was: what food is traditionally consumed in the southern regions of the USA for luck? The answer was black-eyed peas for anyone wondering. Did I call the number to try to win? Yes. But as luck would have it, someone had beat me to the punch and the line was busy.

I think I won something I wanted once, and that was a billion years ago when I was in college. In fact, I think I may have been the only person who dropped a ticket in the box, so it’s possible I won by default. That is how little I can rely on luck.

Making a resolution

Anytime I consciously attempt to bring luck my way, I get nothing in return. So my resolution for 2021 is to accept that luck is what I make of it.

Our lives hang in a delicate balance. There are so many factors that are out of our control. The government could shut down. The pandemic could take a turn for the worse. We could get sick. We could lose our source of income. Businesses we depend on could shut down. Anything could happen.

Defining luck in the post-pandemic age

1. Focus on the things that I can control.
2. Focus on me.
3. Focus on my health
4. Focus on my mental health.
5. Actively pursue my goals and hobbies.

Despite all this self-awareness, I will still be eating my grapes.

Deep down inside I hope that this will be the year that I do it right and that against all odds 2021 will be a better year than the past one.

Happy New Year.