I Used to Be So Superstitious Growing Up And Still Have These Obsessive Thoughts
And it’s weird because I have the knowledge and the brainpower to fight it but I just don’t
It’s October. We’re going to be thinking of all of the things that make many people superstitious. Black cats, stepping on cracks, breaking mirrors, walking under ladders, jinxing something by saying the bad outcome out loud, and so many other things we’ve been conditioned not to do by society because of different superstitions.
My mom reinforced those superstitions for me. In fact, when I broke a large mirror in my room as a teenager, I was scared that I would actually get seven years of bad luck or more. I did have a black cat when I was very little but that cat ended up running away and never coming back.
The most famous black cat I remember from pop culture was the talking one from “Sabrina: The Teenage Witch”. His name was Salem and he was from a family of witches. Sure, nothing about that scenario is plausible and I shouldn’t have been scared. Logically, I’m not going to run into a talking, magic cat that could curse me.
Superstitions can fight against our most logical thoughts. Sure, the things that we are told will happen when we break certain conventions will most likely not happen. Then there are different cultures’ superstitions that can vary from the ones that are mainstream in America.
My mom has a few unique traditions that she brought from the Philippines regarding the New Year. You have to eat long foods on your birthdays and eat round objects close to New Year. It’s always good to have money in your pocket on that day too. I don’t know if the clean clothes on New Year’s Day was an actual tradition but it might’ve been a clever way to get me to do my laundry more often when I lived with her.
The point is we all have many things we do because of tradition, stubbornness, or some level of obsession that we do so that we don’t find out. It’s that fear of the unknown that gets us to a point where we avoid cracks for decades on end.
I’m not saying that I actually believe that something could happen if I did step on a crack but I’m not finding out. I used to be a lot worse about this one particular thing when I was younger but now I think I just do this without thinking. And I definitely know better. I’m just not up to tempting fate or an unknown presence to follow my logical side completely.
Plus, I’ve seen spirits so I definitely don’t want to anger anything like that. Superstitions must’ve been tested at some point and could’ve been put in place to punish those who want to go too far outside of the societal convention. Who knows? I mean, at this point, I say this both comically and also almost with a tinge of fear.
Damn childhood spooks and stories. I’m not trying to be in the next horror movie though. I did write previously, though, about how I completely disregard the whole Friday the 13th myth. Maybe it won’t be so bad if I apply this more uniformly. By the way, I got this one out today because I was getting a bit superstitious about leaving my 666th story milestone out there too long. Now I’m more at ease despite the subject matter.
MOST DEFINITELY RELATED LESSON: I know better not to let fear rule my life. I just need to apply those lessons more often. I still can’t be in the same room in the dark in front of the mirror with someone chanting “Bloody Mary” in front of it without running out in terror. My dad used to do it to me as a kid and then turn off the lights while I was in the shower in the bathroom. He would also pop up randomly and spook or freak me out in the dark when I would be in a room by myself. The point is, some of this unknown irrational fear could come from some of the trauma from my childhood. I did get rid of my night terrors, though, for the most part. I still had a fairly hard time walking alone at the campground in the dark, though.
