Finding Something to be Thankful For
Every year, we approach the holiday season where we (at least I do) sit back and reflect on another year going into the rearview mirror. It is not always the most pleasant time for all sorts of external factors, but it is a time where everyone should try to find something to appreciate. Even in the hardest of times, there is always something to be thankful for. With who I am, I can go through periods where I find it hard to think of something I am appreciative of. Nonetheless, I still try my best to stay as positive as I can. Trying to be aware of the fact that I have many more things to be thankful for than not.
For instance, this year has been one of the hardest in my life. To be honest, I don’t quite understand why. To start the year, I finally passed all of my management tests to have the ability to become a Branch Manager at a Financial Services Practice. Then, I was fortunate enough to be able to acquire a book of clientele from my amazing Grandfather who retired at the end of April. Afterwards, I was been given the ability to be my own boss by starting Mountain Wealth Investment Group! These are some of the best things that have ever happened to me. So you might be saying “how can he think this has been such a hard year for him?”
Well, that is a great question. I think I have put quite a bit of pressure on myself over the years whether that is a good or bad thing. Now that I am in control, it has became more noticeable than it was prior. For more insight, I have tended to do this in the past. As an example, I still remember being extremely nervous about failing 3rd grade. This is because I struggled with reading to a point where I was marked as “non-proficient” by my teacher. I remember it to this day driving up the hill to our house here in Bozeman feeling the urge to breakdown in tears. When the end of the schoolyear approached, I thought I was only days away from finding out that I would have to take 3rd grade twice. To my surprise, I passed and the pressure I applied on myself instantly vanished. From that day forward I never truly worried about failing a class, nonetheless an entire grade.
How does that relate to my pressure today and the topic of finding something to be thankful for? Well, this is a perfect example of becoming a stronger person overtime. With the stress and pressure I applied on myself in 3rd grade, I was able to be more confident in who I was going forward as a student for the remainder of my formal education. So I think the pressure going on today is a long-term positive in a similar way. I think the pressure going on is because I truly want to be great at what I do. The hardest part is I don’t want to be a salesman, I want to be an irreplaceable resource for people to use. My line of work tends to benefit the salesman in the short-term, and this has put pressure on me to feel like I am not doing the right thing trying to learn the economics/financing side prior to the sales aspect.
The more I have thought about it, the more I believe this year of pressure and stress is actually not a negative at all. It is THE thing I am thankful for this year. Obviously I am thankful for many more things like family and great friends, but I think they are also things I always appreciate whether it is this time of year or not. This has been a slight negative in the short run, but the reason I am thankful for it is not because of how I feel today. It is because it is making me into a better man tomorrow. The stress I have felt is in my opinion making me more aware of who I am wanting to be in the years ahead. The pressure has given me the drive to work even harder to slowly relieve that stress. It is a work in progress, but overall it is trending in a positive direction and the hardest tests in the short-run have made me a better person in the future. I believe this is occurring today even when sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.
In conclusion, I challenge you to find something out of the ordinary to be thankful for. This year, I chose something that could easily be the thing I am least thankful for. I chose it not because I am thankful for it today, but I understand the importance of struggles in building the person I want to be tomorrow. Also, being aware that tomorrow is not tomorrow. I hope you can try to think of a situation like this as well. Not something identical, but similar in how it impacts your mindset. We all have burdens we carry, but how you choose to approach them is the key difference. A good starting point is to try to identify something that could be a positive thing buried within the depths of the burden. If you do, I truly believe that you will at least find solace and possibly a conclusion to the burden carried. The power of positivity is a reality, the factor is do you choose to apply it to your own well-being? I hope you all enjoyed the read and I wish all of you the best in the weeks ahead closing out the year of 2021!
Riley Sisson
Branch Manager, RJFS
Any opinions are those of Riley Sisson and not necessarily those of Raymond James.
