Share your superstitions

So, I'm not the most superstitious person around, but I do have a few. There's little doubt in my mind that my obsessive compulsive tendencies probably feed them quite a bit, as does my lifelong experience as a habitual worrywart.

The most pronounced (and I've unfortunately been this way my whole life): If I'm worried about someone in transit getting home from somewhere, I'll resort to playing mind games with myself to keep from calling or texting to check on him or her, since trying to reach him or her and not getting a response will make the worrying that much worse.

I refrain from talking about or sometimes thinking about something I'm really looking forward to because I fear my enthusiasm will jinx it. Sometimes I'll attempt to do the opposite and convince myself that the antithesis of what I'm looking forward to is bound to happen—like dismissing forecasts for snowstorms even though I'm hoping for lots and lots of snow.

I always make wishes on eyelashes, shooting stars, and identical numbers on a clock.

There are others though they're not coming to mind at the moment. Funny thing is, I've held off starting this thread because I've been superstitious about it. Maybe thrusting these ridiculous notions—some of them, at least—into the harsh light of day will weaken them a bit.

What are your superstitions?
Have you always had them?
Have they changed or evolved over time?
Do they ever prevent you from doing things you'd probably do without them, or force you to perform actions you wouldn't otherwise?

 

1) I've never been able to step on a crack. My mother has been dead for nearly 10 years. I shouldn't worry about cracking her back. (I've almost fallen trying to avoid a crack)
2) I only bother with heads up pennies. Tails up are bad luck.
3) If the Bengals are winning while I'm in the kitchen, and then a bad play happens when I start watching the game, I'll had back to the kitchen.
4) I count stairs as I go up them, but never down. Always have as long as I have been able to count.
5) I always make a wish at 11:11


There are more, but I need to make sure all the folders on my desk are parallel to the edge of the desk.

 

If things start to go south in a game I'm watching, I will change channels, shut off the TV, or leave the room.

Another one, not related: I knock on wood. A lot.

 

I will NOT pick up a tails penny. Even in my own home. I've had them sit on my floor for days until either someone else gets them or I kick it under the couch.

 

I think finding coins on the ground is lucky, and it doesn't matter which way up it is.

(I know a prominent lawyer who is deeply, deeply into scanning the ground for loose change. For him, pennies are the best. He says a found quarter is worth 1/25 as much luck as a found penny.)

By the same token, I think that unintentionally dropping and losing coins is bad karma.

Worse than that is dropping and losing pills. I am extraordinarily careful when opening bottles of small medicine tablets.

Good-luck charms and amulets have a powerful placebo effect. People who think they're lucky are more likely to be lucky. That's because we all have more control over things than we realize.

Many years ago, I decided I wanted to harness that power, so I invented a harmless superstition: Vitamin C increases your luck. I started taking Vitamin C every day.

It was frightening how easy it was to get myself to believe in it.

My attachment to that "superstition" has faded over the years, but I still take Vitamin C every day.

 

I am trying to think if I have any superstitions. I suppose the knock wood thing, but I only do it for comic effect.

 

the whole black cat thing, everytime a black cat goes in front of me i make an X on my window if im in my truck. you should see the top left corner of my winshield. looks like a big game of tic tac toe with only x's.

 

I have no serious superstitions. I do avoid discussing anything still "in the works" for fear of jinxing it. My biggest 'don't mention it for fear of jinxing it' is getting through traffic signals while they're green.

 

Lol you are more than welcome to it!!

Another one popped into my head. I work with juvenile delinquents and I always try not to mention the name of past residents who have been released. Sounds silly right? Well every time we talk about one of our old kids they come strolling back into the facility with handcuffs and new charges within a few days.

 

I have to have my car stereo volume on an even number, but that's more of an OCD symptom than a superstition I guess. I don't ever show my fortune cookie predictions to anyone though, as that will void them for sure.

 

Being the bird nerd that I am, I'll frequently make the one-handed "I love you" symbol when I see my favorite native species. Occasionally I'll mistake a native species for one I'm not as fond of (Eurasian house sparrows, starlings, pigeons, etc.) and give them an ILY symbol by accident, at which point I'll mentally take it back.

I talk to birds and animals all the time, and I'll always tell my favorites to "stay safe, healthy and warm/cool," depending on the weather conditions outside. I also tell the four legged ones—groundhogs, rabbits, deer, squirrels, etc.—to stay off the road... as if they can understand me.

 

You would love one of the books I recently bought (you probably already have it), National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Fourth Edition. I love it. It cost a whopping $.50 (fifty cents) at a Salvation Army store.