Picking Apart "Lucky Girl Syndrome"
And snacks from last week
Not to sound too Garfield-esque but I really loathe Mondays. Especially these particular kinds of Mondays, aka the gray ones in January that make you long for sunshine and the pitstained subway riders of August in NYC. It’s fleeting but it’s there.
I looked at the clock just now and somehow it’s 4 PM, which means I have about an hour or so left of daylight. LOL. Cue stress.
I’ve been writing this piece on my blog about a trend I saw on TikTok (it’s called Lucky Girl Syndrome), and while the name might be eyeroll inducing, there are SOME fundamentals of positive thinking in there. But because we live in the world that we live in, intelligence is no longer the way to get noticed online. Case in point: the girl in the video says to “be as delusional as possible” and all the things you desire will come to you.
Stellar advice. Probably should be noted that the girl in the video is 22, so…do with that what you will. Her overall concept has some roots in reality, but this shouldn’t be based on “delusion”. Here’s an excerpt from the blog:
While I believe in things like manifestation (to a degree) and the power of positive thinking, I also believe that a key element to its success is practicing what you preach.
You can say affirmations daily about what a great person you are, but if your actions don’t reflect that, you’re not going to magically become a great person. I'd like to think that would be obvious but the internet astounds me every day with much, much less.
Mindset is important, but it’s more about taking that mindset and adopting it into your every day life. So when someone does something that pisses you off, you ask yourself “how would a good, calm person handle this?” And then you act in that manner. But if you lose your shit and call them a brainless asshole, I don’t think you’re going to be collecting any good samaritan awards anytime soon.
Anyway. After writing about this, I actually decided to take a second look at my week last week and list out the good stuff or the “lucky” stuff. Because in my head, I remember having an emotionally draining week, but when you look at a lot of the things I did, it certainly wouldn’t “look” like it. Now, obviously Instagram paints a pretty picture of our lives, but Lucky Girl Syndrome basically asks you to stick with that pretty picture. So I did that and here’s what I came up with:
Last week I hung out with a bunch of friends, visited a fun bar, watched some good movies, ate great food (King David Tacos, 3 Times, Reunion, Barn Joo, to name a few), and got to spend time with my family. I also bought a new umbrella (I know I shouldn’t be excited about this but I am) and I booked a trip for the end of Feb.
Surface: not too shabby. Under the surface: dealing with some shit. But…does the latter have to cancel out the former? It can if you let it. Had I done nothing and moped all day, would that have made me better or worse? I vote worse.
Not saying you should never be stressed or sad, because well, that would be insane. Always honor your feelings. And your anxiety, as I so subtly depicted here in this video I posted on TikTok the other day. Pls remember 90% of what I post is satire.
But if you can look at your life through any lens you want, why not choose a positive one? Focusing on the good is better for your mental health in the long run. It won’t magically solve all of your problems, but if you use that mindset as a subconscious driving force behind the decisions you make, you can see why people believe in the power of positive thinking. Because it’s not so much the thinking as it is the actions that follow it.
And while Lucky Girl Syndrome may be a silly Gen Z name, its not the worst thing that’s come out of TikTok. Everyone remembers Sleepy Chicken, right?
Oh and men, don’t worry, there is #luckyguysyndrome too but it’s not as popular. Not even gonna tug at that thread…
Til next time.