A little while back, a trend started popping up on my TikTok feed: #LuckyGirlSyndrome. I watched countless videos of women raving about the benefits of Lucky Girl Syndrome and the many ways it’s improved their life. My curiosity was piqued.
What is Lucky Girl Syndrome?
Much like manifestation, The Secret (the wildly popular early 2000s self help book), and the law of attraction (which dates back to the 1800s!), Lucky Girl Syndrome is just the latest positive thinking ideology that suggests “affirmative mantras and a positive mindset in life will bend everyday events in your favour,” according to the Washington Post.
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In short: believing that you’re the luckiest girl in the world is supposed to rig the universe in your favour. The trend was started by 22-year-old TikTok creator Laura Galebe, who first posted about it and coined the term in December 2022.
“There’s literally no better way to explain it than it feels like the odds are completely in my favour,” Galebe reportedly says in the video, adding, “I’m constantly saying great things are always happening to me unexpectedly.” To date, the #luckygirlsyndrome hashtag has 420 million views on TikTok.
Lucky Girl Syndrome vs. toxic spirituality
TikTok viewers were quick to point out Lucky Girl Syndrome echoes new-age toxic spirituality that ends up leaving women with the notion that they’re the ones to blame when something goes wrong in their life.
Beyond that, Lucky Girl Syndrome also disregards the many external factors (including white privilege) that can impact your life experiences. It’s worth noting that the majority of the most popular #LuckyGirlSyndrome TikToks are from white women creators.
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The value of embracing positivity
Despite Lucky Girl Syndrome’s valid critiques, experts do claim that there are very real benefits to positive thinking. From increased life span to greater resistance to illnesses, there are longer term benefits that genuinely can improve your daily life both long and short term.
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Putting Lucky Girl Syndrome to the test
Armed with this knowledge, I set out to *mindfully* put Lucky Girl Syndrome to the test on a pre-planned girls trip to Las Vegas. The fact that this assignment landed on my desk just a week before the trip felt inherently lucky on its own, and I took it as a good sign (despite the fact that I was still skeptical).
I filled my girlfriends in on the assignment and they were on board. It quickly became the mantra of the trip: every time anything went our way, someone would quietly mutter “Lucky Girl Syndrome” – from our Uber being less than one minute away to the hotel elevator waiting for us on our floor, it was a half-joke that quickly became sincere.
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Clubbing with the LA Rams
We put Lucky Girl Syndrome to the test just about everywhere from restaurant lineups to the casino (more on that later), but we really saw its power when we went to Tao, Kendall Jenner’s Vegas club of choice. While walking down the Vegas strip, a club promoter offered us a spot on the guest list and free drinks at Tao on Saturday night, which we gladly accepted (I can’t give Lucky Girl Syndrome credit for this one, since this is a pretty typical Vegas experience for women).
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However, upon entering the club, we quickly realized that there was a major distinction between the freeloaders like us, and the paying customers with private booths and bottle service, which also happened to include the starting lineup of the then-reigning Super Bowl champs the LA Rams. We jealously eyed the booths, which were armed with strict security that prevented anyone outside of the booths from entering. “We need to get into one of those booths” we shouted at each other on the dance floor over our free 818 Tequila sodas. “Lucky Girl Syndrome,” we said in unison, nodding our heads.
And then, seemingly by divine Lucky Girl intervention, a handsome stranger from one of the booths beckoned us over, sweet-talked the security guard into letting us past the velvet rope, and within moments we were offered bottle service and a plum spot to dance on a platform directly beside the LA Rams. It felt like winning the jackpot. We had watched countless other groups try and fail to secure booth privileges, and yet somehow we’d done the impossible. Once arriving in the booth, we weren’t ogled or expected to chat with anyone or do anything other than enjoy ourselves unbothered (to their credit, the LA Rams were extremely respectful). Regardless of all of our Lucky Girl Syndrome musings, even we were shocked at our good fortune.
Winning big at the casino
Despite me wanting to believe that our Tao experience had Lucky Girl Syndrome to thank, I still wasn’t convinced, given that our group was young, pretty and predominantly white (gotta factor in that white pretty privilege!). So to really put it to the test, I took to the casino. Specifically, the roulette table, where any external factors or privileges would be made irrelevant.
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I quickly got hooked, winning round after round, my Lucky Girl Syndrome fueling my increasingly risky bets. I was mainly betting on black or red, high or low, slowly doubling my money. Then, I decided to up the ante: I bet on 8, my lucky number, and the luckiest Chinese number because of its association with wealth. As the roulette wheel spun, I said to myself “I’m lucky, good things happen to me,” over and over with complete sincerity. And then, the ball landed on 8. I froze: There’s a 2.6% chance of that happening, and even less considering that it had just landed on 8 recently. I stared in disbelief as my winnings piled up in front of me. Against all odds, my Lucky Girl Syndrome had prevailed. In that moment, I was officially a believer.
The Lucky Girl Syndrome after effects
In the end, I left Vegas with about $10 more in gambling money than I arrived with because I frittered most of my winnings away on more bets (my Lucky Girl Syndrome mysteriously vanished after my big win). Still, it was hard not to believe that Lucky Girl Syndrome had a hand in keeping everyone in good spirits and making the trip feel extra charmed. Our flights were on time, nobody caught COVID, we all made it back in one piece and we had the girl’s trip of a lifetime. These days, that counts as luck in my books.
In truth, my personal experience with Lucky Girl Syndrome isn’t the kind that has me running out to buy a lottery ticket every chance I get. Instead, it’s the kind of glass-half-full outlook that makes me feel optimistic when I wake up in the morning, because there’s a good chance something great might happen. Turns out, finding luck in life’s little wins can be even more rewarding.
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