Episode 24: Why We're Superstitious (Happy Halloween!)

In this episode,

Lizzie explores superstitions, why they exist, how they can help us, and when they can be detrimental to us.

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Post-pod questions to consider

What is a belief in your life that you might be a superstition? Do you think it is serving you? Are there any superstitions you need to let go of?

Episode Transcript

Hey. You're listening to Midnight Philosopher with Lizzie. Thanks for tuning in. Today, I'm going to talk about superstitions. Happy almost Halloween to those who celebrate. 

Superstitions sometimes get a bad rap, especially because sometimes superstitions are seen as compulsions and obsessions, in obsessive compulsive disorder, also known as OCD. But just like with any subject in mental health, there's a spectrum. And sometimes superstitions can be quite beneficial to the person experiencing them. Superstitions often, but not always, take on a spiritual significance in people's lives. 

And even if they aren't scientifically backed with evidence and even if they're not real, sometimes the placebo effect can occur. 
The placebo effect is originally for medication trials, where some participants in the study were given the trial medication and others were given a placebo pill, which was essentially a sugar pill with no medication. Scientists were surprised to find that even some people taking the placebo pill experienced positive effects and impacts simply from believing they were taking something to make them feel better. So, sometimes superstitions might be with the placebo effect or sometimes they might be real and quote unquote real. 

But either way, they can be really beneficial or harmful to people depending on which. For me, I've participated in superstitions in my life that have both taken on a spiritual significance and also have perhaps been the placebo effect. 

My mom died ten years ago, and there are certain times when I feel my mom's presence. Now, some may call this a superstition, but for me, it's just a really strong feeling that my mom is with me. When the sun shines on me in a certain way or when I hear or see certain animals like cardinals or deer, I feel a strong presence. I feel that she's with me. And I believe she is with me in those moments. 
And this superstition helps me get through tough moments. Sometimes, if I'm having a really bad day, but the sun hits me in a certain way, I feel comforted. I feel that my mom is there. I feel that she's helping me through what I'm going through. 

Another superstition I've carried since I was a child is don't step on the lines of the field before a softball game starts. 
Someone told me that stepping on the lines was bad luck, and I believed them as a kid. And it just sort of just bled into my beliefs as an adult. It's interesting to study your beliefs from childhood and see how they impact your superstitions as an adult. Sometimes, superstitions are just carried over from childhood into adulthood. But believing it was good luck to not step on the lines growing up gave me more confidence. However, when I did accidentally step on a line, it knocked my confidence down. So, the stepping on the lines had the placebo effect in both directions. I believed I truly believed it helped me when I did not step on the lines, and I truly believed it harmed me when I did. 

Similarly, I had to train myself to break some superstitions as an adult. I often had the superstition that wearing certain clothes gave me good luck in my improv auditions. And, I believed this to the point where if I wore something and didn't make a team in it, I would shove it to the bottom of my closet and not wear it again for sometimes even months. This superstition wasn't healthy for me and was causing me to not wear some of my favorite clothing. So, I thought about it a lot, and I actively made the choice to go against this superstition. I practiced wearing the same clothes for auditions even if I did not make a team in them, and I wore them to different auditions so that I could see that sometimes the clothing was successful and I did make a team and sometimes it wasn't. And if I was rejected from a team or if I eventually did make a team, I would wear those same clothes to my performances because I was, quote unquote, breaking the curse. 

Sometimes superstitions give us a false sense of control. They make us feel that we can control the outcome of something unknowable that might be giving us a bit of anxiety. For example, in the improv example, I thought wearing certain clothes would help me make a team. I was hoping I can control I could control the outcome of what was occurring. But this false sense of control is often why superstitions can be so appealing. And who wouldn't want to control the outcome in an unknowable situation? 

One last superstition I had was that I used to joke that I've dated so many people who identify as witches and broken up with them that my dating life was cursed. I had to talk myself logically through this thought process, though, and say that it was probably my attachment style interfering with my relationships and not the fact that I had been cursed by the witches I had dated. 

Overall, superstitions can be helpful or hurtful or neither or both. They've been around for as long as humanity has been around and they impact society. Even people in ancient days believed superstitions around fires or around certain ceremonies. And they've really been part of our society for forever. It's interesting to think about why that might be. And I think it does go to the false sense of control, but it also goes to giving people hope and inspiration and the courage to keep going. 

So if there's a belief that you hold, ask yourself if it might be considered a superstition. You can do this by asking yourself where the belief comes from. And when it's just something you feel or if it comes from evidence-based data. And as a therapist, as long as superstitions aren't actively impacting my client's health or happiness, I will often ask questions from a place of curiosity about these superstitions instead of making assumptions or judgments about them. Some superstitions or beliefs have impacted people deeply. For example, the superstition that I feel my mom's presence has given me great comfort in times of distress. 

So, in this episode, I talked about superstitions. How some can be beliefs pulled in through childhood, such as stepping on the lines in a softball game. And how some can be hindering your well-being like when I stopped wearing some of my favorite clothing in improv auditions. And in the case of feeling my mom's spirit, how some superstitions can bring feelings of peace and comfort. Superstitions can range from helpful to hurtful. They can range from socially acceptable to not. And it's just kind of finding which superstitions in your life or beliefs feel helpful to you and which are causing you harm. 

Well, thanks so much for listening tonight. I'm going to go pick a four-leaf clover now so I have some quote unquote good luck. 
Have a good night.