Believe in Yourself: Lucky Girl Syndrome
What is Lucky Girl Syndrome?
The last few years have seen social media ablaze with the term ‘Lucky Girl Syndrome.’ Women have taken to the online world claiming that lucky affirmations and positive thinking have helped them to achieve their goals, receive job opportunities, meet the love of their life, or drastically improve their finances.
Affirmations such as, “I’m so lucky, everything works out for me”, “I’m so lucky, my career is thriving” or “I’m so lucky money comes to me” appear to be providing a life of opportunities and abundance for those that believe they are a “lucky girl.”
Lucky Girl Syndrome is essentially creating your luck through positive manifestation. If we believe that life is amazing and that “everything works out”, then everything will work out better, and we will be rewarded with positive outcomes. Basically, if you repeatedly tell the universe that you are fortunate and the luckiest girl alive, then you will be rewarded with romance, a pay rise, a job opportunity or good fortune, depending on what you wish to attract into your life.
Many have called this a rebrand of the law of assumption. This is the practice of believing and acting as if your desired outcome has already been achieved until it becomes a reality. Simply, visualise what you want and act like you have it because acting as though you are already successful and fortunate will attract success and fortune in your life.
I want it, I got it.
There is power in visualising the life that we want. Several studies have found that visualising your goals, self, and outcomes can boost confidence and enhance motivation. Of course, this can help you move into your rich, happy, and successful woman era. Although the idea of Lucky Girl Syndrome is appealing, just merely daydreaming or wishing without taking appropriate actions doesn’t make anyone lucky or successful.
Visualise the life you want or the person you want to become, YES, but to just rely on positive affirmations or the belief that things will always fall into your lap, NO.
Research into visualisation vs action has found that visualisation without action can result in reduced effort and lower chances of achieving goals, which leads to disappointment, self-doubt, and even depression when the results aren’t what you hoped for or manifested for yourself.
For things to work out, visualise what you want but put in work to get it. Visualisation with positive thinking and the belief that you can achieve anything is a valuable tool that should be used to motivate your actions, not as a substitute for action.
Reality Reminder
On the surface, this craze encourages women to think positively and believe they can achieve anything. However, this trend has been faced with many criticisms.
To keep it simple, life isn’t always lucky or perfect.
Critics of this trend have commented that this trend is not as empowering for all women. Lucky Girl Syndrome is largely promoted on TikTok by what some have categorized as, “young and beautiful white women”, that are merely showcasing how perfect their lives are as a result of their privilege. But, that isn't the reality for all women. Not everyone is blessed with a life of privilege or ease and, as mentioned above, a lot of hard work goes into creating a life of success, happiness, and good fortune.
Note: The world is filled with successful women who will admit to having many lucky moments, but it is luck AND their own hard work, education, and self-belief that has led to their success.
Make it Work for You
Many people stand by this method and believe you shouldn’t knock it before you try it.
At first glance, this trend showcases women with a life of wealth, success, love, and personal growth that was all achieved overnight because they manifested it. A quick TikTok search will show pretty privileged girls boasting about how lucky their lives are, but a deeper dive will show that, just like the Law of Assumption, Lucky Girl Syndrome, is essentially a tool to reinforce positive thinking and self-belief. Believing in yourself, believing that your dreams are attainable and that you can attract positive opportunities is a great motivator for action.
Our brains are naturally wired to think of the negative before the positive. Practicing positive daily manifestations and affirmations reinforces a positive mindset which therefore has a positive impact on our daily lives and potential for success.
Motivational speaker and New York Times best-selling author Mel Robbins explained it simply when she said,
“Our mindset is like a pair of sunglasses; it’s how we see the world. And how we see the world is going to have a big impact on how we behave and, therefore, the actions we take."
So, whether you want to believe that you are the luckiest girl in the world or if you spend hours a day working towards your goals, believing in yourself and your power is the key to achieving your dreams and attracting good things into your life.