When I was younger, I was obsessed with superstitions and myths.

I hopped over every crack in the sidewalk, I snapped wishbones, and probably gave myself several illnesses by picking up dirty pennies off the floor.

I wanted as much good luck as I could get so that I could share my luck with everyone and no one around me would have to suffer.

Kind of a heavy responsibility for a kid to place on their own shoulders, but I did it with a smile.

I was so deep-rooted in the idea of superstitions that it became an obsession—I was driven to tears at the sight of other people not believing in them, and I would have to chant a little mantra to myself any time I felt I’d attracted bad luck. 

In hindsight, that probably warranted further inspection, but I didn’t really know that that wasn’t exactly considered ‘normal.’

Then, as I got older, I shifted in the polar opposite direction. I gave up my superstitious ways and started to believe that nothing could bring you good luck.

This was a pretty bad era for me because I gave up my belief in everything, really. I stopped my obsessive behaviors—no more cataloging all the lucky things I’d done each day or standing before a mirror repeating wishes for half an hour—but I also felt a lot duller. 

Now, I feel that I’m a happy medium. I haven’t had a panic attack overseeing a black cat in a little under a decade, but I do close my eyes and make little wishes when the clock strikes 11:11. It’s fun, so why not?

Superstitions can be really damaging to your perspective of the world if you become reliant on them, but they can also fill you with confidence and put a smile on your face.

Before every performance, the color guard sends ‘lucky taps’ down our line of members by lightly touching our flag poles to wish each other luck during our run. It doesn’t set anything in stone, but it calms some of the nerves you get before tossing equipment in the air for eight and a half minutes.

I don’t know if I’ll always have silly superstitions, but they give me a little anchor in the storm raging in my head sometimes, so I’ll keep them for now.