I didn’t want for anything until my housekeeper washed my lottery ticket.

The most triggering event of this decade wasn’t COVID. It wasn’t being quarantined for 14 days of my visit to see my mom because I was exposed, but negative. It wasn’t even the capitol riots. It was this morning when my housekeeper didn’t check my pockets and washed my lottery ticket.

I used to believe that the lottery was a tax on people who were bad at math. But something seeped in when I got my ticket. With the minuscule prospect of hitting a $180 million PowerBall. I started dreaming. Interestingly enough, my dreams weren’t oh too different from the life I have been building.

I want to give back to my family and my community.

I want to invest and assure I have a secure future, no matter what my child or romantic situation looks like.

I want to own my home and make it truly my own in so many unique ways.

I want my company to run without me grinding every day and going to bed feeling boring and exhausted.

I really had to dig into my anger about the lost ticket. I know there’s a micro minuscule chance of winning. I also know I’m a hell of a manifestor. Ultimately, it comes down to this. I’m on the right path. But I wanted the fast pass to my goals and dreams. Wealth is not intended to come quickly when you get it. Generations spend time teaching their children how to have an investment mindset. Businesses take decades and even generations to build.

The get rich quick fervor got me to the bone. It made me believe that the magic numbers on that ticket were my ticket out of the slow lane. When I saw my wallet washed and no ticket to be found, I feel like my future was stuck in the spin dry. I felt a loss of control when, quite frankly, nothing changed.

What did change was my awareness of how sharp, cold, and callous I could get to everyone around me when I felt out of control. I told my assistant to get off her treadmill during her lunch hour so I could try to find a document that a computer crash took from me a year ago. I barely said two words to my housekeeper all day. Worse, I beat myself up. I stressed myself out about my work. And it was all over a piece of paper that is likely disintegrated somewhere in my dryer.

My assistant said, “I’m going to be you, now. What is this lost ticket telling you?” I’m sitting here nearly in tears. It told me I’m on the right track but I was wanting to cheat the line. It told me that all the material possessions and security in the world would not equal peace, happiness, or inner serenity because money does not solve problems. The loss of the thought of money created problems.

But it also created an opportunity to see through a clearer lens. I have all the pieces. I see where I’m overstressed, wanting ease, and needing comfort. I also see where all the abundance in the world is just waiting for me if I just stop looking for the magic ticket to jump the line.

It led me to ponder, where else was I looking to jump the line? Was I holding out in my relationships for “the big one” with the whale that would take care of me once and for all? Was I looking for “the next big deal” that would get my consulting team busy and validate me as a business owner? What are all the areas I have been looking to jump the line? How has the lack of line jump impacted my relationships with others?

The lottery didn’t matter one bit to me until I bought a ticket and was in the game. But there’s something else I have a ticket to — that’s my life. And there’s no jumping the line to my prosperous future. It’s all about keeping my mindset, my attitude, my choices, and how I open up to and treat others in check — one day at a time.