“Good luck!”, “I wish you all the luck!”, “I feel lucky today”, “If only I had had a spell of luck…”, “He’s not that good, he’s just lucky” and so on. We all bring it up every day, regarding it as an axis mundi which our existence revolves around. However, it’s anybody’s guess where this patronizing entity comes from, how it actually steers our lives or what we can do to attract more of it. Defining this notion also implies quite of an exertion.

Looking it up in a dictionary, I found that luck is considered to be an influence that seems to make good things happen to people for no particular reason. Yet, a more upfront definition classifies luck as the success you have by chance and not because of anything you do. Amplifying upon the latter explanation, one could gather that there should be no pride in accomplishments carried out through luck, nor would there be reason to moan about mishaps caused by bad luck, since we haven’t made any contribution to them. Or have we?

Since time immemorial philosophers have been ruminating whether man’s destiny is predefined or it is our own choices that shape our lives. The arguments haven’t yet converged, so that debates carry on to this day.

On the one hand, a school of thought professes that we are steered through our existence by an unconceivable force just as ants are driven to sugar by its smell. Our future is alleged to be already written and none of our actions can impede pre-etched course. Nevertheless, by consenting with this standpoint, aren’t we also inevitably accepting the inherent spin-off of belittling ourselves down to a state of mere witnesses of our own life film?

On the other hand, we might feel safer in the knowledge that we are our own commanders. It is us that decide upon our destiny, therefore, we are the sum of the choices we make every day. Nobody else can be accused of the abhorrent state we fall into, nor be praised for the apex we reach, except for ourselves. Those seeking luck are virtually incapable of taking responsibility for their resolutions and would rather place the blame for their failures on dearth of luck. Instead of acknowledging their mistakes, they prefer eschewing accountability. History though teaches us that there is more to be learnt from a lost battle than from a victory; hence the benefit of having a backbone and standing upright in front of whatever ups and downs life keeps in store for us. Hiding ourselves in the bogus shadow of fortune and waiting for it to do the donkey job for us is not going to make life easier, nor will we become wiser. Take the horoscope as an example. There are many fools who wholeheartedly put faith in its forecasts, so that they develop a kind of anxiety for their daily activities, assuming that every step they make is beforehand doomed to futility, if it does not fit the forecaster’s recommendations.

Religion is also at loggerheads over such beliefs. As the Bible stresses, there is only one single God that rules this Universe and only He can set the course of evolution. When we pray to God for luck, we are actually asking Him to give vent to our desires for a smooth and misfortune-proof existence. Luck is nothing else but God Himself, just that we might sometimes be subliminally ashamed of pestering Him with our petty requirements, that’s why we address Him indirectly.

All in all, you should rather forsake the unfounded belief in luck and instead get in charge of your own destiny. Lead your life by choice, not by chance!