It was a Sunday evening when an old video came up of our dog, Duke, kissing our daughter, Andie. It had been about a year since Duke was put to sleep, a night I will never forget. I went to show Andie the video, which she grabbed from me immediately. She watched the video over and over again, then kissed the phone, and hugged it saying, awe Dukey, I love you. Something about the sweetness in this moment made me break down and cry. I thought I had fully grieved losing our fur baby, yet here I was a bubbling mess in front of my 3 year old little girl. Despite Andie’s ever sassy side, she can be quite empathetic (at times I take advantage of this and pretend to cry so she stops fighting me on what socks to wear!). Andie now took my hand, kissed it, and pulled me in for a hug. Of course this made me cry even more! I always thought Duke would be the dog that our children get to grow up with. We learned early on this would not be the case with his unfortunate back issues that caused him pain everyday of his life. My husband turned to me and saw the effect of the video, which used to make us laugh, and now makes my mascara run rampant down my face. He too brought me into a big bear hug.
I realized in the moment that I’ve been keeping it together all the time, and I had gotten so used to keeping it together for my family, for my clients, and for myself because it seemed easier. But in the end, it got me so tightly wound up, taking more and more energy to hold on so tightly. Without these moments, we have nothing. All the money in the world, the biggest house, the best Chanel bags, won’t replace memories like these. A family coming together over a simple memory.
Now I know why I take 1 minute breaks throughout my day to look at pictures and videos of my family, it is an automatic reset to my heart. I am here serving my clients, my family, and my God. And God gifts us these moments every day, all day long, and it is our responsibility to be present for them. To not rush through them to the next thing on our never ending to do list (yes I am guilty of this every morning!), but to feel them with every bone of our body. And you’ll find you will have more time to get things done if you focus on the present money. Focus on today, don’t get overwhelmed with tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day. You’ll experience less anxiety and stress, you’ll have more energy, and you’ll feel renewed.
I was recently approached with 3 new and amazing opportunities. I was instantly overwhelmed, overthinking, and having a huge fear of missing out…FOMO as you may know it! Then I thought, wow I should be grateful, not overwhelmed, so what was wrong with me? I wasn’t being very present in the moment, I was stressing how I would fit all of these new things into my plan. The plan I very tightly control…maybe a little too much! At a time when I should be celebrating and feeling such gratitude, I was stressed and the anxiety was creeping up my neck.
I see it with the women I work with! They know they need help, they know they need to invest time into fixing the bad habits, yet they always exclaim I don’t have time for this! It doesn’t fit into their schedule, yet what is the point of their busy schedule if they aren’t progressing towards their goals? If they aren’t progressing to better and better moments in their lives?
It is the moments that matter, not the money, yet the money is the tool to get you there. Money is an exchange for more moments, an exchange of your time and energy. The more you stress over money, the more you are taken away from the moments that matter. By getting your money into a system that efficiently and effectively works for you allows you to be present in ALL the moments in your life.