work for what you want in life, it's not luck
Home » Travel Tips » Attention Americans: I’m Not Lucky, I Just Work For What I Want In Life

Attention Americans: I’m Not Lucky, I Just Work For What I Want In Life

Pin this post for later!

We’ve probably all been told at some point in our lives that we’re lucky.

Many tell me that I’m lucky to live the life I live.

People say I’m lucky that I get to work and live abroad, that I make my own schedule, I’m pretty much my own boss, and that I get to vacation in my backyard at nearly any given moment.

If I had a dollar for every person who told me I was lucky, I would be one rich bitch.

But when you live your life how you want, that doesn’t mean that you don’t face problems or roadblocks along the way.  I questioned what really made me lucky and how did I get where I am now. What really is luck?

>>> By definition, “luck” is: success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one’s own actions. Good fortune as a result of chance.

When you think about luck, it’s normal to correlate that connection with chance.  But when you work day in and day out to be where you want to be in your life, how the hell can one’s life be summed up as just happening, “by chance?”

The jobs I’ve worked towards in no way shape or form could be obtained by chance.  I went through the same process as everyone else, I searched, applied, got denied many times, spent countless hours tweaking my application for 500th time to make sure it was perfect for a specific job I was applying for; I still do this to this day! This is not luck.

So what can someone do to make “lucky” things happen in their life? What does one do to make what they desire manifest?

You need to learn to take the plunge and just go for what you want. That’s really what it comes down to.

When you want something so bad in your life, you can’t rely on the abstract idea of luck to get you to your final destination. Because at the end of the day, your life will not be a factor of luck or chance.

Are you manifesting what you want in life or are you just idling waiting and hoping for it to fall in your lap? That’s what you need to ask yourself.

It’s up to you to make sure the elements you strive for, happen.

When you pull yourself together and stop waiting around for something to happen and instead realize you yourself need to make it happen, then you start discerning how many things you can achieve.

Take travel, for example, many people think it’s expensive, a long distance dream, only for vacations…  But I knock down all those negative barriers by showing people I actually spend less traveling, you can earn money while you travel, and that traveling opens up many doors.

But that’s another story and I’ve spoken about that in detail in many other posts regarding living and working abroad.

The point is: Finding all that information and making it my life (because that’s what I wanted) wasn’t by chance, it was through determination, trial and error, research, and making it my life goals. I MADE it happen. Not one ounce of it was luck.

To everyone out there who ignores the obstacles others have had to overcome, by summing up their accomplishments to luck or chance, you’re wrong. 

Are the people who perform in the Olympics lucky? Or did they work tirelessly training for the skills needed to participate?

Are certain actors (excuse my lack of pop culture knowledge) lucky to now be making millions per movie? Or did they practically live on the street and apply for any gigs that came along for years until they finally broke the big screen?

You’ll get what you want in life by working hard.  The routes in order to get to those goals will likely be confusing, hard, and frustrating to reach. If it was easy, everyone would be doing what they wanted every day.

There are hard obstacles in every individual’s journey. But if you’re doing what you really want in life, wouldn’t life be better? Would it be more worth living?

What do you really want in life?

Everyone spends countless hours each day working on the tasks laid out in front of them. Jobs they don’t enjoy, things they are obligated to do.  It can make people feel stuck to be in the same mundane routine each day.

This is a waste of time in many ways.  While it does serve a purpose in the “now”, what will it do for you in the future? How will this routine get you closer to your goals?

Of course, you do it to put food on the table and a roof over your head, but where is there a rule about having to hate what you do just in order to live?

It’s time to wake up and come to the realization that if you want something in your life that you currently don’t have – You need to reach for it now.

It won’t be an easy transition, it won’t be overnight, it may be years before you see any substantial reward and the overall journey might suck, but the ending will always be the same if you stick with it:

Totally fucking awesome. 

Why? Because you actually want this. If you really want something, the ending can only be positive.

The point? Make your own “luck.”

Don’t leave it to chance that your dream job will fall into your lap, one day you will get that promotion, one day you will travel… “One day, one day, one day….” When will that day be if you don’t work for it?

We only live once.

You need to do what you want, no matter how impossible it seems, because this is the only way you will actually get anything out of life that you actually want.

Don’t think I’m an ungrateful little biotch though… Trust me, I have A LOT of luck too, and I know it! There’s a massive difference in what I actually am lucky for and what I’ve worked for. Don’t get these two confused.

That’s actually why this post is mostly aimed at Americans. We have similar “lucky” aspects of our lives that others would die for. I’m nobody special. I had the same life, the same luck, the same opportunities, the same education, etc as most Americans… And if you’re American, I bet you can do way more than what you give yourself credit for.

Let me know your thoughts on luck, do you feel like it plays a role in your life, or do you create your own? 

Pin this post for later!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

9 Comments

  1. This article SUCKED me in! Hardy har har. But really nice piece. I have been dwelling on this question as well as I hear this too. It comes down to the choices that we all make. It is a shame people still believe that reality or fate exists beyond us. This train of thought devoids all power to self. I too was victim of this. But I have learned to make what I want. Make my life soup as I like to say:P The world is mailable, every changing, dynamic not linear. This is a beautiful thing really. It allows us to add the ingredients to our soup. It is hard to accept when people say that we are lucky because we know we worked so hard to be here. But why do we get bothered? Because people do not acknowledge our hard work? Or that we want the best for others and would like to just shake them to bits while screaming “you can do it too if you wanted! Stop making me seem like I did the impossible” I get it…

    With that said, I slightly agree with those who say we are lucky. oooo plot twist! The more I dwell on the reasons why I was not lucky, I began to realize that I kind of am lucky or more specifically, by chance and my own persistence I am here. Oooo the neutral ground combo sandwich.

    To name a few: I was born in a country that has one of the best passports. I was born into a family that allowed me the freedom to choose my future. I walked away in my head on collision (no medical bills yay!) and I did not get stabbed by and angry drunk on that train in Bangkok. These are some of the few out of the many instances where the end result would of had people say ” oh man sorry so UNLUCKY”.

    Even the environment I grew in could derive from “lucky”. I am hear today because of my curiosity to explore and learn this world from the top down and I wouldn’t be here if it were not for choices of others that lead to my existence, to my opportunity and believed in me when I told them my dreams. So ultimately I made the decisions but it was the support and upbringing that helped me achieve what I have. So I humbly accept the term I am lucky and I give thanks for those that made it possible. In the end, If you are hearing the term “you are so lucky” then the reality is…maybe we are and it is time to embrace that thought and be happy:))))
    End Quote by Victor Frankl ” Everything can be taken from man but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose ones own attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”

    P.S. Great book as well. “Mans search for meaning” Victor was a Jewish Psychologist during the holocaust and survived to tell the tale. His fame came from the insight he gained while in the camp. In the end, was he lucky or unlucky?

    1. Ah so much more can be said…but yes, totally agree! I mean of course this piece isn’t meant for the poor Ugandan who may never even get to play on a computer, no less read blogs. This was meant for all of us ‘lucky’ people who have the ability to do almost anything they want. So many people I meet on the road or speak to back home (aka- all the people with this ability to “get lucky” themselves) Just don’t get it. They don’t take advantage of the ‘luckiness’ we have. If you don’t take advantage of this initial ‘luck’ then I don’t really know what to tell you, but don’t dare call me lucky! Bc so are you! You just choose to sit there and do nothing with it.

      That’s the type of person this is aimed at 🙂 So glad I realized there’s more to life than just figuring out how to survive, people forget to live life!

  2. Excellent read Nina! I completely agree with you. Thanks for sharing not only your travel adventures but also some smart reflections about life on the road. Kisses to you

  3. Love your post, it is so true and so to the point. So many people wait for things to happen and are jealous of those who have what they want. Those people never think of how hard some people work to get to where they are. They need to get off their ass and make it happen, like you did, and it won’t happen over night. You are a brave and determined individual who goes after what she wants. I’m so proud of you!

  4. Thanks nina love ur blog and posts…true it takes hard work. We are saving to come live in krabi for a yr next year so would love to see more of ur secret local places…kate – Australia