You know how in movies, there’s this idea of a jinx?

Someone says something bad, and then it happens.

That plot device sticks in your head.

Now when someone says something bad, your brain starts to get anxious.

You weren’t thinking about it, but now you are.

You wait to see if the bad unfolds.

“Hope this doesn’t happen.”

Your brain goes, “What if it does?”

But then there’s the second trap.

Someone says something good.

A small wish. A hopeful statement.

“What a wonderful day.”

And your brain still flips it.

“What if the opposite happens?”

“What if this backfires?”

Now both directions lead to the same place.

The bad builds fear.

The good still builds fear.

Everything turns into a setup for collapse.

And notice how unidirectional this is?

Good being turned into bad and bad is taken as bad too.

But we don’t see anything being taken as a positive.

It is asymmetric in a negative way, thus you cannot let it live

So try switching the route.

If someone says something bad, don’t let it land.

Say, “But what if something 10 times better happens instead?”

If someone says something good, multiply it.

Say, “What if it turns out 100 times better than we can imagine?”

Don’t let pop culture spiral you down by default.

The jinx trope teaches us to treat hope as dangerous, like we’re tempting fate just by acknowledging something good.

Live the anti-jinx.