When you have a goal or a wish, whether it’s a secret or not, should you talk too self-confident about it? I’ve always been a little careful revealing what I aim to do; well, I can say that I have the objective of doing something (e.g. to run that marathon) “if everything works out well”. However, lately I’ve been thinking about the impact or importance of jinxing or not jinxing.

First, let me explain the word “jinx”. A jinx is “a curse or the attribute of attracting bad or negative luck” (Wikipedia). The word has somehow turned into a verb so to jinx is to take the risk that what you say will not happen; in other words, to say what will happen may bring negative luck to it.

I’m not overly superstitious but there are certain things that I just haven’t done because I’ve been afraid of bringing back luck to it. For example, when I am going to run a race, especially if it’s in a city abroad, I’ve been afraid to buy souvenirs, t-shirts etc from that race before I’ve actually run. Because if something happens and I somehow cannot run or finish the race, this souvenir will remind me of my failure.

But what if it has the opposite effect? Maybe we shouldn’t be so afraid to jinx because it could actually mean that we put more effort into attaining what we want?

Yesterday, I ran Stockholm Half Marathon. The weeks before the race, I hadn’t felt in shape – I’d been sleeping badly, working a lot, and I’d been feeling a kind of distress about my life. My hamstring and gluteus muscles had been quite all right, not perfect but good enough to run. But a few days before the race, I started feeling a tension in my left calf muscles (I think it was after I’d done a lot of burpees, which I’m not that used to – YET), so I now had a new thing troubling me.

Therefore, I wasn’t sure that I could run the half marathon and if I started, I might not finish the race. However, I went to the expo and that day I was in the mood to do some shopping and I saw a nice hoodie with the logo “Stockholm Half Marathon”. I didn’t think, I just bought it. It wasn’t until I came home that I saw that the actual date of the race was printed on the back…

Oh, no, now I am jinxing, I thought.

Fortunately, my worries had been unnecessary. The signals from the calf was false alarm and the race went well.

And I like my hoodie:

So, to jinx or not to jinx; well, I’ll say – believe in yourself and do what feels right – and don’t be afraid of talking about it! Talking about what you’ll do might help you attain your goal. And buy that souvenir from that race that might be one of your lifetime experiences! I regret that I didn’t buy that mug on the Paris Marathon Expo 2012…

Five weeks today until the Chicago Marathon – that is my next goal and I look forward to it!