179 | Wishing You Were Further Along

We spend a lot of time wishing we could be further along. But we often miss all the good things we already have going on and overlook the fact that someone else is wishing they could be where we are now.

In this episode, let’s talk about being grateful for our present circumstances, even as we work toward our goals.

• • being grateful for where you are in the present
  • looking at people who are ahead of us in the journey
  • people who are behind us in the journey
  • the energy of pursuing your goals when you focus on your blessings vs. how much you don’t have

Episode 87: Gratitude for Past Versions of You

You’re listening to Wealthyesque. We are a community of lawyers who believe that true wealth is having control of our time. I’m Rho Thomas, and as a busy wife, mom, and former Biglaw associate, I know all too well the tension between the culture of the legal profession and pretty much everything else you want to do in life. That’s why each week, I’m bringing you the information and tools you need to improve your money mindset and manage your money to create true wealth. Because ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the freedom and flexibility the money affords.

Hey friend. Welcome back to the show. I hope you’re doing well and having an amazing day so far. If you are listening to this episode in real time today is the day after Thanksgiving here in the US so Happy Thanksgiving to you if you celebrate. I hope you enjoy the holiday. I am actually recording this episode before Thanksgiving. And I’ve been reflecting on gratitude as we near the holiday. I have a lot to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my life, for my health, for my family, for my business for my clients, for all of you listening for all these things in my life. And I was thinking about how often we will look at other people who are a little further along in their journey and wish that we were there and we take for granted the things that we have and where we are now. We think about the things we don’t have or that we haven’t accomplished and we sometimes forget about the things we do have and the things we have accomplished. I talked back in episode 87 about being grateful for my past like having a bunch of debt not knowing how to manage my money, all of that because those things have led me to the life I lead now. But I also want to be mindful of being grateful for my present. It’s easy to be always looking ahead to the next thing you want to do. But even if you’re not where you want to be right now in life, even if you’re striving for something else, we can still be grateful for where we are now. There’s always someone looking at us who’s further behind. In the journey, who’s wishing they could be where we are. And I think it’s really important to remember how blessed we are even if we haven’t achieved all the things we want to yet. Even if you haven’t paid off all your debt yet or save the amount you want to save or reach the income you want. There’s someone who’s wishing they could be where you are. And I don’t say that to discount the feelings that you might have about where you are financially. I don’t think that recognizing your blessings means that you can’t still want more for yourself or still strive for other goals. But I think that we strive for those other goals from a different place. When we come from a place of gratitude for where we are and when we recognize that someone else would trade places with us in a heartbeat because when you’re thinking about it in terms of I wish I could be further along or I should be there by now, it creates those feelings of disappointment and shame and frustration that don’t feel very good and that aren’t very motivating to get you moving forward to where you want to be. Versus if you’re looking at it like man, I’m not where I want to be but I’m so grateful that even though I’ve got a bunch of debt I have a roof over my head I have food to eat. I have close to where I have water I was able to achieve the dream of becoming a lawyer because a lot of people haven’t been able to do that. A lot of people would love to be a lawyer but they haven’t been able to. So whatever it is in your life, there’s someone who wishes that they could be where you are. And it reminds me of the story. It’s like a parable that says something like there was a man who wished he had shoes until he met a man with no feet. We often are wishing for the things that we don’t have but we forget about the blessings that we have. So this is just a quick reminder for you to think about all the things that you have to be grateful for in your life. Even if you’re not where you want to be and you wish you were further along, even if you haven’t achieved the goals that you have for yourself yet, because there’s somebody behind you who’s looking ahead to where you are wishing they could be there too. And where you are now is likely somewhere you’ve previously prayed to get to. I know that’s the case for me. So even if everything isn’t quite going the way you want. There are a lot of things that are going well for you and there are a lot of people who would trade places with you. And again, that doesn’t mean that you don’t still set goals or work to improve your financial situation or anything like that. But the energy behind it is going to be a lot different when you’re approaching it from this place of gratitude for where you are and what you already have, versus disappointment and frustration about what you don’t have yet. So I hope that this episode is helpful for you if you’ve been wishing you were further along and feeling frustrated about where you are. And if you would like support on your journey to move further with your finances. Come join us and Money Mastery you can head to rho thomas.com/join to get started. All right. That is it for this week’s episode. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for being a part of my world. I am truly grateful for you. And if you haven’t done so already, please share this show with a friend or two who you think would find it useful. Because I want to get this information to as many lawyers as I can. All right. As we close out friend, I pray that you take the information you learn here, apply it in your life and open up to the realization that wealth is available to you. As you do that consistently, week after week, you’ll continue to take steps to regain control of your time, build wealth, and live the life of freedom and choice you deserve. Talk to you later.