“Remember That You Once Dreamed of Being Where You are Now”

I ran across this quote recently and it has been resonating with me; to the point that I think of it nearly everyday. I had been sort of throwing a pity party for myself due to I wasn’t happy with what I had. Then this quote hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized that it wasn’t long ago that I was dreaming for the things I have now.

Not long ago, I was still in Doctorate school, racking up thousands of dollars of debt. I was wishing to be done with school, wishing to start my career, wishing to start making money, wishing to get married, wishing to start working on paying off my debt, wishing to be able to afford a new car, wishing to own a house one day. Now, just over a year later here I am and I have: graduated with my Doctorate, started my career, went from literally almost running out of money in my checking and saving account to having a decent savings account, gotten married, made a sizable dent on my student loan debt, traded in my car, and on this Friday, my husband and I close on our first home.

I wasn’t just handed these things, it has been a lot of hard work, sacrifices, and blood, sweat, and tears that I have been able to make these things a reality. I have worked two jobs since the day I graduated from school; a full time job during the week and a PRN job on the weekends. It has not been fun working weekends, holidays, and days that other people have off, but it has been absolutely worth it.

My husband and I have also been lucky though; a few months ago he got a new job and a well-deserved promotion which also helped improve our situation. But again, that came from sacrifice as he is currently in school two nights a week for 3 hours after working his full time job, getting a certificate beyond his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees that will help advance his career. It has already helped do just that as he got this new job offer and promotion from meeting someone through his program; but again it came from hard work.

Now when I look at what I have, I realize I literally have the main things I have been wanting for the last few years and I feel absolutely foolish and ashamed for feeling sorry for myself. I have made my dreams come true and I will continue to work hard and continue to make more of my dreams come true. When I look at where I am at right now, I realize how fortunate I am. It is about the journey and enjoying where you are at right now in the present moment. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have dreams and shouldn’t try and better ourselves; but when we look introspectively, we really have a lot to be thankful for.