I wrote of my superstitions when I was a junior in high school. At the time, I played field hockey. I still just as superstitious now as I was back then, and I was still as big of a Packer fan back then as I am now:

At times, I can be very superstitious, especially when it comes to sports. I believe that jinxing affects the outcome of plays and, in the long-run, the outcome of games. I play field hockey and every time someone on my team says, “Guys, we are undefeated. We can win this game,” everyone on my team, including me, shouts, “Knock on wood!” I also believe that pre-game rituals should be done the exact same way each time before games. My pre-game rituals consist mostly of me standing quietly and just thinking. I don’t necessarily think only of the game, I think about anything. Many random thoughts appear in my head out of nowhere. Not only is this my pre-game strategy to calm me down, I do this throughout the day. I think the reason it makes me relaxed is because I am used to doing it so often, and it makes me forget the actual situation I am in. There is an inner peace in thinking about memories from the past or just random questions in general. It is like reading a book. Most of the time, my memories are funny, safe, and happy.

I am also very superstitious about something during the day happening every day we win a game and it not happening on the day we lose a game. For example, every morning I would use the same deodorant including on the days I had games. The deodorant’s brand was Dove, and the scent was smooth cashmere. My team was undefeated, with an 8-game winning streak until the exact same day that I switched over to another deodorant. This deodorant’s brand was Ban, and its scent was paradise winds. On that day, we tied with South Burlington, 2-2. The next game I continued using the Ban deodorant, and we lost to Mt. Abe, 2-1. I then noticed the pattern, so I switched back to the Dove deodorant. We won that next game 1-0 against Essex.

I also believe that lucky tokens or charms improve an individual’s chance of winning a game. I have my lucky sparkly, red ribbon that I tie in my hair after I pull my hair up. I have worn it every game since the start of the season. On the morning of tying the game against South Burlington, I could not find my lucky ribbon. I searched all over the house until I finally found it hidden under a stack of papers. This symbolizes my team almost losing the game because I almost lost my ribbon. I also watch football every Sunday. My family’s team is the Packers. Before the starting kickoff, my little sister runs upstairs to retrieve her lucky pillow pet. Her pillow pet’s name is Simon and he is a brown and white cat. While we are watching the game, she starts off holding Simon. If plays begin occurring in the Packers’ favor, she continues holding him, but as soon as the favor begins siding with their opponents, she passes Simon to me to see if the Packers have better luck while I am holding him.

Now how my superstitions correlate with faith (this was recently written):

Even with the Packers losing this season, I have seriously began believing that everything happens for a reason. It is difficult for me to express what I believe, but I believe that both a free will and a chosen path by God come into play in our lives. I believe that if you listen to your heart and you make your choices based on what your heart tells you, then whatever you decide is what was meant to happen. God, in a sense, made you the person that you are so that you can grow into the person you are meant to be. You were made perfectly, and you are on a path that is YOUR path. Your path consists of the decisions that you make. People should not worry so much about their decisions because, in the end, the choice you make will be the right one. If you come to a fork in the road on your path, it will not matter which way you choose. You will still reach the x marks the spot, the ultimate goal, the golden gates.

I can relate this concept to teaching. Some students will learn multiplication within minutes, while other students may take months to grasp the concept; some students may use the standard algorithm to do multiplication, while other students use lattice to compute multiplication. Each student takes their own path: some paths are longer than others, some are windier than others, and some take their path at a slower pace. But what matters most is that at the end of the school year, they all know how to multiply.

I learned at church just last Sunday that the most genuine YOU comes out when you come face-to-face with a predicament. If you choose to try harder, learn from your mistakes, and be a better person after a difficult situation, then it truly shows who you are as a person. On the other hand, if you choose to complain, hate the world, and blame others for your problems, then that also reveals who you really are deep down.

It doesn't matter what you choose when you come face-to-face with a decision. Trust yourself and trust that God is guiding you. You just have to try your best in life and be your best self! You will have people who don't believe in you and pessimists and haters and naysayers...but you will also have people who motivate you and inspire you and encourage you. I will think that not wearing my bracelets, hanging out with the wrong people, not focusing on the game, or not being near my Packers Title Towel and Packers bandanna are the cause of them losing. But no matter what I do, it was the right thing for me to do. No matter what happens, it all happened for a reason. I truly believe in that. We are all pieces to the big puzzle of life. We will grow and try to figure out the answer to all of our questions. Like a kid, I will never run out of questions, but we will only receive all of our answers when we have done our job in life, when we have reached the golden gates.

More than anything, I stay true to who I am, and I trust myself...and more than anything, ANYTHING I trust in my faith in God. That is just what I believe.