luck be a lady

Since when do we rank levels of heartbreak?

Singer Sheryl Crow has been named the Hollywood woman most unlucky in love, according to this article. Crow, who has dated celebs like Eric Clapton and was engaged to cyclist Lance Armstrong, sits at the top of list that includes Jennifer Aniston at No. 2 as well as Cameron Diaz, Tyra Banks and Mariah Carey.

So big deal. They're all big stars who experienced major breakups.

But it brings up a good question: To what extent is love driven by luck? Or lack thereof?

I think there are genuinely good people out there who by some chance happen to stumble across a bad mate. No warning signs, no premonitions, no smoke signals. Sometimes you just can't tell. And when it happens as an isolated incident, and you proceed to dump that person, I you really can attribute it to luck.

But when you constantly find yourself in bad relationships, you're not losing the game of luck. You're being stupid. Often, I think it's easier to attribute our own bad judgments to luck, rather than a failure to higher our standards.

Yes, it would be easier to play a relationship game where success is determined by crossing our fingers and rubbing a lucky rabbit's foot. But maybe we're fortunate to have the ability to opt out of potentially disastrous situations and freely ditch life's losers instead of waiting for an arbitrary jackpot to tell us we're out of luck.

Rolling the dice may be all it takes to enter a relationship. But sustaining that relationship requires a series of calculated risks and strategies.

Rely on luck alone and you'll be miles away from winning the game.

Thoughts?