I used to say I was lucky with my my son. I was lucky he didnt get some girl pregnant, I was lucky he never went to jail, I was lucky he was a good student... But that wasnt luck...I was (and still am, grin) more involved than other parents. I was mother and father to him since he was 10 months old. He has since graduated college, is working & playing, and I have enough faith in his ability to shine on his own that I moved 600 miles away from him. :-)

As a former RA myself, I surely was guilty of blaming some of my successes on "luck"... And even as a professional residence life staff member now, sometimes I find myself associating the successes of my RAs to luck. It's good to own up to your successes, even if it means owning up to your falls, as well.

P.S. I shared this blog to my reslife friends on Twitter... I think they would appreciate it! So hopefully you'll get a few new readers today!

I always say that I am so lucky to have my friends but if I'm following your post then it's because I'm a good friend that I have such good friends.

Are lucky and fortunate the same?

I am so fortunate in the life that I have. My friends, my family, my ability to have a good sense of humor and roll with the punches. :)

Nice comments so far today. Chaotic, I really loved your example from bright and early this morning. I often tell people that my parents were lucky to have three girls who got good grades and stayed out of trouble, but actually they were very involved parents, so upon reflection I don't think it was luck at all.

Brian, thanks for sharing with your RA staff. We would love to welcome some new readers into our community.

Leave it to Cheryl to ask such a thought provoking question so early in the day. I don't know. What does everyone else think. Are lucky and fortunate the same thing? Based on the context in which you used it, I would say yes.

You have the relationships with family and friends that you do because you are a good friend and a good family member. If you didn't work hard at it you would probably notice that the relationships would change over time. I think the same holds true with your attitude. You choose your attitude and I sometimes, when things are not going well, I am guessing you actually have to work at laughing and rolling with the punches.

I think it is less about good fortune and luck and more about choice and hard work. That's my two cents. Anyone else?

Way to go Claudia!!!.... Excellent and interesting topic!!

I think you are and I can't find the word .... magnetism? (what is the children's nursery ryhme or story of the person who just attracts everyone???) you could walk into any room and say anything and convince people to smile, jump, create & particpate!! And what was it you told us a few weeks ago, that you are shy?

I looked up luck and all the words around it.....If LUCK were to 'have it'... a perfectionist couldn't ... because luck happens beyond their control. A rationalist would say luck is part of the rules of probability... if A happens, then B will happen, therefore A influenced B

Lucky charms, lucky numbers, serendipity, the luck of the draw, random chance, it's not luck it's skill, luck is good and it's bad....

I think you can have both luck and skill... and talent and intuition...

I'll say... not mistakingly.. I'll chalk my success to falling, being and staying in love was 'lucky' to meet my husband and I've been 'lucky' for 23 years.

Or maybe you weren't LUCKY to meet and marry your husband, Peggy.

The first encounter might have been lucky (serendipity), but the fact that he pursued you, that he chose to ask you to marry him, and that you have remained happily married is not luck.

He chose you because of the person you were and that was the result of choice and work on your part. As a married person, I dare say you remain happily married not because of luck but because you choose to work at your marriage.

By owning the successes in your life two things happen. First, you accept that our successes are not chance and second, by extension, you must also accept that your disappointments are not by chance.

Part One feels good. Part Two is a little bit harder to swallow.

And see I was going to say I can't buy that there isn't any luck because my HUSBAND was LUCKY to snag me!

I actually do feel that there is a certain level of luck involved in life. I am lucky to be living in America a land that despite our obvious problems truly is the land of possibility, lucky to be relatively healthy and lucky to have had an upbringing which opened the doors to the possibility that I could be educated. Not everyone is lucky enough to have those things available to them and for that i can appreciate my luck.

I do think though that you are right Claudia...TOO OFTEN we chalk up our hard work and success to luck rather than allowing ourselves to take credit for our own success. I actually find myself doing that everytime someone asks me about how Bal and I happened to move to Texas. My story (as I spin it) goes something like this:

"Well I worked with Claudia at Bellarmine and through that she came to know that my husband, Bal worked in logistics. LUCKY FOR US when Claudia's husband Richard went into business on his own he was looking for someone to work for him Bal since Bal worked in logistics it was a good fit. Then Claudia and Richard moved to Dallas since LSL had a bigger facility down here and the idea that we should try to get to the company headquarters came on the radar sometime around March of 2008. I put out feelers with a former colleague and remarkably I was LUCKY enough that he had just posted a position that was a PERFECT FIT (who am I kidding?) with my background. I applied and interviewed in May and was LUCKY ENOUGH to be offered the job. We moved in July and the rest is history. "

Realistically none of that was luck. Bal is incredibly hard working and loyal which is why Richard was initially interested (the logistics experience really didn't factor in at all). The only reason my colleague thought of me for the position was because we had worked together previously and he knew enough of my work ethic to know that I could do the job even though it was FAR from a perfect fit (I'd only worked at small colleges and this is a large, public and I had LIMITED conduct experience and I was applying for a Director position)! And I was offered the job because I interviewed well and convinced enough people that I COULD do the job and would do it well. ( And I have ; P)