We all wish for a shortcut, but we gain more from the work we have to do.

I sometimes fantasize about winning the lottery. I had a boyfriend who would just obsess about what people would do if they won the lottery. I was pretty content when we were dating and it drove him insane that I had no idea what I would do if I did. He just couldn’t fathom being happy with my life at the time but my college tuition was paid, I had a working car, no bills and no aspirations for something bigger. Now of course, things have changed and I would do so much if I did. The thing is, by winning the lottery; I wouldn’t work so hard to get where I want to go.

I think of winning the lottery as jumping ahead of everyone who is working so hard to get where you suddenly find yourself. You hear about people who win the lottery and 5 years later, they are right back where they started and I think that is because they never had to work for what they got. If you don’t put in the time to earn it, you don’t really value it. Sure, I would make several people’s lives better. Mine, my family’s, friends and organizations that I believe in. I would purchase things and take trips…. but because I could just go out and purchase it, I don’t know if I would ever really value what I had.

I think about the trips I want to take and the things I want to gain from the journeys. Would I still take the same trips if I didn’t have to work for it and would I waste the opportunity because I didn’t work to get there and had to make something of it? Jumping ahead of everything sounds like fun, but I understand that it is what you learn getting where you want to be that is just as important as the destination. I’ll keep pondering the point while I let the visions of what I would do with my winnings dance in my dreams. In the meantime, I will keep slogging away in the trenches.

Still, maybe 5 or 10 million wouldn’t hurt too much? I guess I will see you in the check out line.