Hi there 😍,
Just before I do the into, no, this blog won't be in Swedish hehehe 🤣, but the quote is from Sweden ( well many countries have their own version, but I have the Swedish one in my head 😊)
In today´s blog we are going to talk about luck.
According to Oxford, luck is:
Success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions.
Besides the "formal" meaning, luck in all its forms is subjective. How luck is seen by you is unique, and no one has the same kind of luck as the others.
It is worth clarifying that luck is also affected by your environment, from where you were born, your family, your surroundings, to what you currently do, your education, your job.
A black person born in Liberia and who moves to the US doesn't have the same "luck" as a White person born in Boston. Or a person who was been working their ass off since a teenager doesn't have the same luck as a person who is 40 years old and still depends on their parents. Its simple social economics, and as I said, luck is subjective. But ok, I hope you get the point.
So, what in the world is "du är din egen lyckas smed"?
The straight translation of "Du är din egen lyckas smed" is "You are the smith of your own success", or in the common form "You create your own success!". You fight against the negative odds of life and you create your own success.
What is the relation between "Du är din egen lyckas smed" and Luck?
Well, the relationship is that both have the same outcome, but in one, you take control of your own success instead of leaving it to chance.
Since little I literally sucked at board games or any game in general that involved competition or betting. I literally lost in everything, chess, Monopoly, dices, roulette, poker, blackjack, water balloon fights, snowball wars, tic tac toe, etc... I was so bad that one friend said to me "Man you are just not lucky in the game". Fortunately, I didn't lose much money (I was still a student so no much money in my pockets), but this "lack of luck" opened my eyes to say "Fuckkkkk, I will never leave anything to chance", that happened in 2008, that year I took the decision to come to Sweden. And guess what? ......... I'm in Sweden.
I'm not going to say that succeeding in coming to Sweden was all me doing everything, I am super duper thankful and fortunate for all the lovely people who made this goal possible. You all know who you are. I love you always.😍
What I will say is, if it wasn't because I took ownership of my own success, it doesn't matter the number of people helping you or how much they helped you, leaving things to chance doesn't push you forward, owning your success does.
Du är din egen lyckas smed, own your success, own your "luck".
And to close this blog I will quote Dicky Fox from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire.
Hey... I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I have failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my life. I love my wife. And I wish you my kind of success.
You are the best.
Note for me: Du är din egen lyckas smed
Big hug,
Andres