Why Are We Superstitious?

Superstition, a widely held but unjustified belief in supernatural causation leading to certain consequences of an action or event, or a practice based on such a belief

Let me begin by saying I do not believe in superstitions. In fact, I believe superstition is the most pointless thing on the planet. I know religious people, I know non-religious people and I can tell you 80% or more of those people believe in their superstitions more than any other religion. I have come to ask why? What is this external force that has brainwashed you into doing particular things for "good luck" or "for your own safety"? Should we consider creating superstition into a religion? It seems there would certainly be enough followers.

It is safe to say there are some illogical and extremely strange superstitions. When asking a friend about some of hers, she replied, "I have to flip my hair 16 times once I get out of the shower. But then I started to freak myself out that I was flipping it so many times and changed it to only odd numbers". Huh? I asked someone else about their superstitions and he responded, "for golf I use one putter, but if that doesn't give me good luck I go to my alternate and then after 2 puts, it's not working, I switch back to the first one". Again, Huh?

Athletes are commonly superstitious. It can be anything; a lucky hairdo, a lucky hair tie, a lucky pair of spandex, a lucky saying, the list could go on forever. If they play well, they give the credit not only to themselves but to their superstitious acts. How on earth does a hair tie help you win a national championship? It doesn't.

What is comes down to is being comfortable in our own skin. Whether you are an athlete, performer, or an average joe, creating these superstitions only weakens you. You should believe you can win a championship because you and your team have worked your butts off, you should believe you won a Grammy because you creating something spectacular, should believe you can get out of that shower with one hair flip because you have hairdryers to do the rest! Sure it's nice to have that lucky charm, but will your world go crashing down if you don't?