Is this good luck or bad luck?

“Misfortune nobly born is good fortune.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I was rushing to work early one morning on a highway when the hood of my car popped open. I was a dead man, I thought. I panicked and tried to blindly navigate my car to the right lane using the side mirrors and rear view. In a matter of 6 seconds that felt like a lifetime, I made it to safety. My luck.

I could write this incident off as another form of bad luck in the life of Francis. I could yell violently at my car and the Gods who chose to test me with this nerve raising tribulation. I could vow never to drive again. I could join a Car Hate Club and roll around town popping tires and starting fights with grease monkeys and used car charlatans. I could do a number of things and say it’s my misfortune that these things occurred. But what would Marcus Aurelius do?

Misfortune is good fortune if it occurs naturally and you can learn from it.

I’m grateful I survived that incident on the highway with my car hood. I learned that a life-threatening situation can occur at any moment, and 9 times out of 10 you won’t know what hit ya and how to react to survive.

But these things occur, and many times they are out of our control. The only think we can really do is react well enough to survive, and after the fact, react positively to learn from stressful events.

Those that are unlucky, are not unlucky, if they can find reason and opportunity for grow out of a crappy situation. Bad luck can equal good luck, if you want it to.