I was a rain-dancer. The beginnings of my obsession with controlling the elements through my flailing and howling are not circumstances I can recall. Having spent the better part of my life in the desert, I’ve always treasured rain, and I suppose my love of precipitation was the motivating factor in turning to wholly ignorant ritual. Gathering siblings, friends, and neighbors, I’d conduct the circular dance along the edge of our trampoline (perhaps the opportunity to jump on the tramp’ was how I motivated the other participants). We’d chant nonsense, and raise our hands high in the air. Eventually, we’d decide that God had accepted our ritual and return to our G.I. Joe’s. Here’s the funny thing: I was legitimately convinced that it worked. I felt sure that my rain dances brought water down from the clouds, and thus, by exerting effort, I could control nature itself. Obviously, this was a childish and humorous misunderstanding that has hardly harmed me.

Sadly, there are still equivalent “rain dances” that each of us do in our adult lives. When we convince ourselves that we hold power over things we actually can’t control we set ourselves up for chronic failure and disappointment, while simultaneously distracting ourselves from true improvement.

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