Tag Archives: luck

So: lucky

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Apparently I write like Margaret Atwood, at least according to I write like. I get to collect frequent flyer miles for my business travel that I can use to visit my far away friends. I have a job that keeps me on my toes and stretches my brain. Plenty of free water is falling from the sky for the Urban Farm this month—and this week which is also lucky for Bruce. Three lab-ish Gs that will practically knock me over with joy when I return home from my travels on Thursday. And I have an amazing husband who holds down the household while I galavant all over the East Coast this week.

Someone didn't want me to go yesterday

Someone didn’t want me to go yesterday

I am very lucky.

Great friends who are loving and loyal. Coworkers who light up my days with their sense of humor and regional differences. The perspective that comes with age and experience. The miracle of a plant springing up from a seed. The tired feeling of a day well spent.

I know that I am lucky. I also know that in many cases, timing and chance is not enough. Being lucky is also a choose. Choosing to be positive. Choosing to work hard. Choosing to not take the easy way out. Choosing to try something new. Choosing to stand up for those who cannot.

And I try my best to be grateful for it everyday.

Last week, a former colleague posted a link to a blog post that I liked enough to share with some of the folks I work with. Even if you don’t work in the same industry as me, I think you’ll see that it applies to any vocation or job if you look at it with gratitude and appreciation.

Now on that note, it’s time to start the work day with gratitude and go out there and make some luck. Make it a great one!

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So: make your own luck

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Yesterday I received a new year’s card from a paper company. In big bold characters, it said “LUCKY 13”.

Lucky 13 2013 Happy New Year card

Lucky 13
2013 Happy New Year card

Immediately, I grabbed my trusty roll of blue painters’ tape (can’t make a mark on the new office doors in the office) and stuck it on my door so I could easily see it—and others could too.

I like the idea of a year being lucky. Full of promise. Full of possibility. Of course, every year should be thought of that way. At the beginning of a year, the possibilities are literally endless. 365 new beginnings. 365 times you can try something new. 365 do overs.  If you’re brave, that is. If you’re willing to put yourself out there. If you’re willing to stretch a bit.

But one thing I’ve already noticed is amount of stretching some people are doing—more than I remember hearing about last year. Perhaps it’s the amount of holiday time they had to slow down and really think about themselves for a change. Yesterday at the office, I heard about straw bale gardening. New workout classes. A blog about to be hatched. Sewing projects being planned. Vows to cook more at home. Assessments of relationships. Volunteer work about to be started. Technology to be mastered. Business opportunities to be created.

One thing that all of these “resolutions” have in common is that no one  is sitting back and waiting for something to happen. While some are still plotting their next move, many have already begun. A far cry from 2012’s standing back, holding breaths, waiting for the other shoe to drop. The optimism and hopefulness is in the air. And all over my friends’, coworkers’, and acquaintances’ faces.

They’re making their own luck. How about you?