How To Celebrate RESPONSIBLY! (PERSONAL)

🙌 𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄, 𝐀 𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐓-𝐊𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀 𝐃𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍! 🙌

Two weeks ago, I walked out of the Test Center a winner! 🏆

With the sun shining down and a big smile on my face I got into my car, shut the door…and screamed! 🗣️

“𝒀𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑺! 𝒀𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑺! 𝒀𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑺!”

I clutched the steering wheel, my body vibrating with unrelenting triumph! ✊

“𝒀𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑬𝑺!”

8 months in the making! ✔️

8 months of studying and test-taking! ✔️

8 months of complaining how annoying the memorization was! ✔️

But I stuck through it, because I knew how amazing it was going to feel getting to this moment!

And the moment was finally here: 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞! 🎉

I felt invincible!

Empowered!

Fearless!

And I drove out of the parking lot without a care in the world! 🙌

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…Moments later I look up, and there are flashing lights in my rear view mirror! 🚨

I had stopped at a stoplight, and while it was red I looked at my social media notifications. 👀

I admit it! I was on my phone while I was driving. I had just let some of my loved ones know I passed the exam so my phone was still in my hands. And, like Pavlov’s dog with a bell, the red light was my habitual signal to: “𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦; 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘵!” 💡

Because of this, I hadn’t noticed the stoplight turned green. I also hadn’t noticed the car which pulled up behind me was a police vehicle. 🚓

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞. 𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧! 😨

To make a long story short, I pulled over, was upfront with the cop, and he gave me a minor citation. He said it was my honesty which spared me a bigger fine. 🙏

Deflated, I tossed my phone in the glove compartment and headed home. Since then, I’ve pledged not to browse my phone while driving, not even at a stoplight. My ego wanted to protest, but the cop was right: 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝’𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.💯

So, while I did pass my Real Estate exam that day, I was also given a friendly kick-in-the-butt: 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬! ⚠️

As Sam Harris puts it, “𝘖𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭, 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦.” 😅

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Two weeks later I’ve upheld my pledge, and my Real Estate path is just beginning! 🙌

While my grandmother passed away last week, she knew how hard I worked to make this happen. Yesterday I looked in my drawer and found the necklace she gave me during COVID. It has my initials with a dog tag engraved: “𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘔𝘺 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘯.” 🗣️

Grandma: This next chapter is for you! ❤️

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