…And a Whole Lot of Luck
As I mentioned on Friday, delusion and luck are two sides of the same coin. Today, I want to tell two stories about luck. The biggest thing to remember with luck is that everyone can be lucky. I'm not talking about believing that you're lucky enough to win the lottery, but we have to believe that we are lucky enough to win the school raffle. We have to believe that the cards can be in our favor, and I am sure you have examples in your life of when the tides turned in just the right way.
My first story on luck relates again to the birth of my son. When I found out I was pregnant at 2.5 weeks, I googled and learned that my due date would be November 8th (the doctor changed it to November 9th when I saw her). But I decided, right then and there, at 2.5 weeks pregnant, that my baby would be born on November 11th. My mom's birthday is 10/10, and mine is 12/12, so we needed an 11/11 baby. Now, you may be thinking that a baby's due date is one of the most unpredictable things in the world, especially for a first pregnancy. Nevertheless, I was certain. I declared to everyone who asked that my due date was November 9th, but my baby would be born on the 11th, and most of them looked at me like I was crazy.
About a month before my due date, I asked my doctor for a realistic timeframe for my baby's birth. My family lives halfway across the country, so they were renting an Airbnb for a few weeks so they could stay out here and help with the baby (although it was mostly helping me) without being on top of us in the house. They wanted to know when to book so that they wouldn't arrive too early and be waiting around, but they certainly didn't want to miss the birth. My doctor said that babies generally come a week before or a week after their due date and that as we got closer, we could discuss scheduling something if I wanted.
I immediately responded that I wanted to have my son on the 11th. And thankfully, she was on board with that, scheduling me to be induced the night of the 10th since inductions can take up to 24 hours. My son was born at 10:02 a.m. on November 11th, 2022. Sure, it's all luck, and maybe it's just a random chance, but I usually get what I want. And maybe, I would not have had him on the 11th if I had waited to go into labor naturally, but the thing about getting what we want is that sometimes we can force the hand of Lady Luck.
And here's the thing, if my son had been born earlier, on November 6th, I still would have gotten what I wanted. I would have had my family there. My husband, mom and sister would have gotten to be in the delivery room. I would have had a beautiful baby boy. It's all a matter of framing, and the delusion we discussed last Friday always helps. But in this situation, I didn't have to compromise to get exactly what I wanted.
One more story, and then I promise I will release y'all to go dream. On May 18th, 2018, I met Rob Lowe. On my dream list that I made years ago, there were two celebrities that I wanted to meet: Hugh Laurie (so if anyone has a connection to him, let me know!) and Rob Lowe. A celebrity encounter, especially in Raleigh, North Carolina, is pretty rare. And it wasn't totally random chance that I got to meet him.
A few months prior, my sister discovered that Rob Lowe was going on a memoir tour and would be in Raleigh, just a few hours from our house. My parents were going to be in Hawaii at that time, so they got my sister, brother and me tickets to the show. I'm going to be honest, I genuinely had no idea how starstruck I was going to be. As soon as he walked out on stage, I began sobbing for no other reason than being in the presence of greatness.
When we bought the tickets, there weren't any meet-and-greets for sale, so we were hopeful that he would come out to the lobby to meet the fans (this was definitely pre-Covid). As it turned out, meet-and-greet tickets were sold, but they were only available to members of the theater. Still, we decided to wait. Maybe after the meet-and-greet, he would come out to the lobby to shake hands with the faithful few that remained. My siblings and I downloaded every social media to message Rob Lowe, hoping he would respond and meet me. It was getting very late, though, and we still had a two-hour drive back home, so we had to pack it up. It looked like I would not achieve my dream of meeting Rob Lowe.
I was now sobbing for an entirely different reason. As we walked out of the theater, a security guard took pity and asked what was wrong. I felt ridiculous telling him that I was crying because I wouldn't get to meet Rob Lowe, but I told him everything. This angel, and I wish I had gotten his name, told us what exit performers typically use. So we waited outside, in the pouring rain, for an hour with about seven other people, waiting for Rob Lowe to leave the building.
He came out, was incredibly kind, took selfies and signed autographs, and then went on his way. At 10:35 p.m. that night, I got to meet Rob Lowe. He touched my shoulder. We made it on his Instagram. It was incredible and truly a dream come true.
I tell this story because one of the last things we need to know before we start dreaming is that dreams come true. I don't care how slim the odds of a celebrity encounter are. That dream can come true. I don't care if you have absolutely no idea how to achieve something — please write it down. I genuinely believe that the dreams in our hearts were meant for us. And they would not be there if there was not some way for them to come to life.
As they sing in the musical, Pippin, "It's smarter to be lucky than it's lucky to be smart." I don't really know if luck is a thing that can be cultivated. But I do know that the more shots you take, the luckier you get. It's like entering a raffle. It will always be random which ticket stub gets pulled, but the chances of winning rise significantly higher if you have half of the tickets in your pocket. Maybe the authors of the Chicken Soup for the Soul franchise got lucky and stumbled upon an idea that would yield at least 275 books in the series. Or maybe they submitted to 145 publishers to find anyone to take a chance on them (144 said no). But I bet the authors would say that they got exactly what they wanted by being published with the 145th house rather than their technical first choice.
That's one of the reasons I want you to discover so many dreams rather than just a few. It's so much easier to "get lucky" and have a dream come true when there are a lot of dreams to chase. Remember that if you put enough dreams out there, you'll get lucky enough for them to come true, so go wild. I hope you'll take the time to do the exercises I post on Wednesday, and I really can't wait to hear what dreams you discover!
-Sarah Hartley
