I’m not a superstitious person. I’m too logical for that. But I’m also too logical to ignore my life experience, and if your life experience is anything like mine, then you’ve probably come to the same conclusion that I and many other people have come to – that whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

Many people feel like the universe is out to get them. In my case I wouldn’t call it “the universe”, but it seems like something is out to get me. If nothing else, God has a warped sense of humour. Some people would say it’s God’s way of developing patience in me – to me it feels like cosmic hazing.

Whatever the cause may be, many of us have come to expect things to go wrong in certain ways and have tried to train ourselves to prepare for it. Some call this “pecimism,” pecimists call it “realism,” others might simply call it “British.” One example is this…

You’re waiting for something to happen, like the arrival of the bus for instance, and you originally thought it would happen pretty quickly so you didn’t bother to make yourself comfortable while you waited. But then the bus takes a lot longer to arrive than previously estimated. You are then left with two options: you can either make yourself comfortable, and then look like an idiot because the bus will show up as soon as you get comfy, OR you can continue to remain uncomfortable for a very long time. Because it’s only one or the other. (To some people this will sound like total nonsense, but people with certain life experience will know exactly what I’m talking about.)

Here’s the conclusion that I’ve come to…

If I truly believe that the universe is out to get me (and I’m not saying I do – I’m just making observations) and that the bus will arrive as soon as I make myself comfortable, just to spite me, then I must logically conclude that by making myself more comfortable I can cause the bus to arrive sooner. Crazy, right?

I’ve tested it, and this actually works! Not a hundred percent of the time, but often enough to be amusing. Sure, I may look like an idiot because I just got comfy only seconds before the bus arrived, but I’m laughing inside! And even when it doesn’t work, at least I’m more comfortable while I wait. I win either way!

I’m actually glad it doesn’t work every time, because then I probably would become a superstitious pecimist, instead of a mostly optimistic guy just making weird observations.

Of course, if you’re a truly superstitious person then testing this out probably won’t work because now that I’ve talked about it out loud I’ve jinxed it. Sorry ‘bout that.  : P