Afraid to Say that Things are Better

Normally I am an optimist or, as I like to say, a "realistic" optimist. But there are parts of my life where I am truly a pessimist and I blame this on my upbringing. In my family's culture, superstition played into everyday life A LOT. There were even some cute sayings around them like "Purse on the floor, money out the door." The translation was that you didn't put your purse on the floor because it would cause you to lose your money.

Yes, I am fully aware this is ridiculous. It's as ridiculous as the belief that you shouldn't jump over someone because it would prevent them from growing; that you shouldn't leave the house on Good Friday; that wearing slippers on a cement floor will instantly give you rheumatism; or that you should never - and I MEAN NEVER - go to bed with a wet head. For the life of me I cannot remember why you shouldn't go to bed with a wet head, but I'm sure one of you will comment and remind me why.

For me, the one that I believe and I'm sure a lot of other people believe is that when things are going well, you should never say that they're going well because "they" will send a bunch of bad stuff your way. Who exactly "they" is I have no idea. But, the belief that one should never talk about how good things are going because you'll jinx it and bad stuff will come along is a mainstay in my life. I am sure that I am not alone.

Today I had a conference call with my boss and it didn't do well, but I didn't get yelled at. Instead I got some constructive criticism that I can actually work with. I have to wonder if he read my post from yesterday. Please tell me that I won't have to password protect my journal or censor myself because that would really just suck!