I have an old 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that is beautiful. I just love it. A few years ago I saw one on the road and thought to myself, wouldn’t I look good in one of those? Well, after that I had to find one and buy it.

This is the imaginary versus actual part of the story. What I discovered after buying it was that while it was good to look at, it was still just an old vehicle that needs to be fixed and or repaired often. The heater doesn’t work right, the air conditioning is as weak as a cat peeing on bush, and it rattles, drinks gas and wobbles when it drives. Other than that, it is a perfect SUV. Ha. My point is that the imaginary feeling and enjoyment of driving a classic vehicle versus the actual is not the same. It is simply not as fun as I imagined it would be.

The bigger point of this blog is that my silly Wagoneer story is like many areas of our lives. Just to throw out a couple of examples they would be, If I had him/her or if I didn’t have him/her, if I lived in that house, drove that car, had that job, looked like that, then I would be happy in life. This next statement is very important. More times than not, what you currently have is better than what you imagine you want.

So the next time you imagine you would be happier if (whatever), take a step back and really think about what it would be like if you did have it. Like with my old Jeep, if I had really thought it through before buying it, I would have realized that I really like heat, air conditioning, power steering, brakes, a radio that works and a vehicle I feel safe in and would drive my family in.

Think about what you imagine and then think about what you actually have and it is my guess that you will understand what I am talking about. KT