Jinxed

Have you ever done quirky things to ward off bad things happening to you?

I’m not a superstitious person, but maybe I am tad OCD on occasion.

According to the Mayo Clinic:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) features a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions). These obsessions and compulsions interfere with daily activities and cause significant distress. You may try to ignore or stop your obsessions, but that only increases your distress and anxiety. Ultimately, you feel driven to perform compulsive acts to try to ease your stress.

I guess the one thing that stands out for me is in making my bed first thing in the morning. The lines of the quilt bedspread must be completely straight and the quilted shams have to be set with the orange and teal corner on the bottom right. But it’s not so much the bed details as it is the blanket that is neatly folded at the foot of it.

The blanket belonged to my mom and I have a particular way of folding it and if it is uneven in the slightest, I somehow imagine the rest of my day will be off. Not necessarily a bad day. Just an off day. So I will refold it, again and again if necessary, until it comes out right. Having this blanket folded incorrectly increases my anxiety.

Maybe I’m cured now that I shared this with all the world. Maybe not.

But this post isn’t about my obsessive habit. It’s about superstition. The two are different but can almost seem related.

I did only very little research on this and it seems that OCD requires a ritualistic approach to reach an outcome. Like me folding and refolding a blanket. Superstition is luck related and not because of a repetitive ritual to achieve an outcome. If this makes any sense. Sometimes superstition can cross the line and evolve into an OCD habit. Anyway, I’m not a doctor, I just did a quick read.

Once-upon-a-time, I was married to a man who was very superstitious. It was rather annoying. I never thought of it as a cuteness at all. Only annoying.

In the very early morning of our wedding day, while it was still dark, in the middle of January, he took a lit candle to the cemetery to his grandfather’s grave. This was to get his grandfather’s approval. Whatever. But the candle blew out when he got to the grave. Then he slipped on the ice and fell to the ground. Not sure why he still married me.

The morning after our wedding we hit two deer. Yes, we did.

I jinxed many conversations by being assertive and not using the word “hopefully” to smooth things out. He was always on me about that one.

But the most annoying of his superstition-ness was the knocking on wood. Constantly. It was so bad that we would be driving and I’d say something (should have just kept my mouth shut) and he’d pull the car over and I’d have to get out and find wood to knock on. Once, after church, in the middle of winter, and me in a dress, he stopped along the road and made me get out. I had to trudge through the deep snow in a ditch to get to a wooden fence post to knock on it. I learned after that one. I put a piece of wood in the glovebox.

Superstition can certainly be overwhelming as one tries to cover all the bases so their life won’t be jinxed in some way.

For me, I think I’ll just go to God. Even bad things happen to good people. That’s just life here in an unfair and sinful world. But that doesn’t mean we are jinxed. Maybe we have lessons to learn. You know I’m all about learning lessons.

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Have a great day! ♥️

Andi