Have you heard of “lucky girl syndrome?”

Honestly, I had no idea what it was until I started to see it all over social media.

I was inundated by video after video of women talking about this thing called “lucky girl syndrome” and attributing it to the reason why they were manifesting amazing things in their lives- money, opportunities, partnership.

So what is lucky girl syndrome?

It is the deep belief you are the luckiest person and that everything always works out in your favor.

In order for it to work, as explained by the interwebs, it involves repeating positive affirmations like “amazing things always happen to me” or “the universe always has my back” over and over again until you believe what you are saying is true.

So pretty much, if you say enough positive affirmations and if you think positively enough then positive things will happen for you. You become a “lucky” person.

After years of being in the world of manifestation, I see lucky girl syndrome for what it is- it’s toxic positivity rebranded with a cute (ahem non-inclusive) name and edited into 30-second social-media friendly sound bites.

Now listen, not everything about lucky girl syndrome is the worst.

Manifestation is the process of shifting your beliefs. So it’s not all wrong.

But shifting our beliefs takes more than just repeating positive thoughts to ourselves every day.

Shifting our beliefs takes time. It requires deep healing and patient work. We can’t just switch what we believe overnight.

So when we tell people to just repeat affirmations and that’s going to fix their life, we’re setting them up to fail.

Lucky Girl Syndrome also doesn’t take into account privilege, trauma or systemic oppression.

It’s no surprise that so many (not all… but a lot) of the women who are talking about Lucky Girl Syndrome are white, cis-gendered, able-bodied, and more or less quite privileged folks.

When we don’t talk about privilege, we’re leaving out a big part of the equation when it comes to manifestation. We must acknowledge that certain people have access to more resources, opportunities, and connections than others.

So, are you lucky or are you just privileged?

And when we talk about belief, we also must acknowledge what a privilege it is to believe.

Yes, lucky girl syndrome is correct, manifestation is about belief. But, who gets to believe in our society?

Who gets to believe that they are worthy of amazing things?
Who gets to believe that anything is possible for them?

Belief is a privilege. It is a privilege that many folks who have experienced trauma or who come from historically marginalized communities have not experienced.

Now all of this doesn’t mean we can’t be lucky.

It just means that manifestation is far more than just repeating positive affirmations for a few days.

We all have the ability to feel like the luckiest folks ever. But this takes time, patience, and inner-work.  

This Week’s Challenge

This week I want you to spot 10 things every day that prove to you how lucky you are.  If the word lucky doesn't resonate, you can use the word abundant. You'll have to look at the small things and probably things you overlook most of the time.

If you enjoyed this, you’ll love these posts and episodes:

68 | Mindset: The Faith over Fear Formula

Mindset work is so often misunderstood as being false positivity.  But true mindset work is about shifting your thoughts slowly so that you can expand from where you are today to where you want to be in the future.  Listen to this episode to learn about Shirin’s Faith over Fear Formula, her tried and tested mindset formula.

Enjoy the rest of the Manifestation series below:

144 | The #1 Manifestation Mistake

If you’ve found yourself already manifesting things into your life but find you’re not feeling that sense of ease and fulfillment, this 1 mistake may be standing in your way.

145 | How I Manifested Love

On the journey to manifesting my husband, I learned what it really means to manifest anything you truly desire in life. Use the lessons from my story to bring about anything you desire.

147 | My 4 Manifestation Game-Changers

Learn the ideas and concepts that changed the game of manifestation for me and helped me to get out of my own way. This is for you if you feel stuck, confused, or want to understand manifestation in a better way.

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About your host, Shirin Eskandani