Down but not Out for the Count!
Write of Passage Shiny Dime Challenge #3
I was stuck in a job that wasn’t going anywhere, still living at home, and no downpayment for a house. I had no relationship or prospects of one and all my friends were getting married and moving on with their lives.
Everything I touched seemed to blow up in my face. I couldn’t hold a stable job or conversation. The few friends I had hung out with me out of pity and I struggled academically. I had no credentials when my peer group had more letters after their name than in their name.
I was your classic C student, the kind of student A students didn’t care to be around because they just knew they might work for someone like me one day. This was how I rationalized my existence.
Life for me at 30 was already over before it had even begun. Forget not being able to finish what I started. My starting line was the finish line. A pair of shoes tied together on my feet was the trophy.
I had been in my accounting job for 5 years, the longest job I had ever held. The only reason I had ever received a promotion was because my boss had sat me down and asked, “Don’t you even want to get promoted?” I had to answer yes.
This was me…at age 30…when Gen Z was still two letters away from coming into existence.
Unmotivated. Unchallenged. Unfulfilled. U-turns in every direction.
“X” meant Generation Striking Out. If only I had been living during Roman times, I’d be a 10.
I was a man in a hole and there was no way out.
One day, I got into a huge fight with a colleague at work and couldn’t bear the thought of another five years of this.
So I quit that day, packed my bags and jumped on a plane to Hong Kong a few weeks later to find a real estate job in a city I knew nothing about, in a language I did not speak. I gave myself three months to find a job before crawling back home in defeat.
In my heart, this was a one-way ticket out of despair and I wasn’t ever going back.
Six weeks later I found a job. Six days later I rented my first apartment. Six months later I was in a relationship. During my time in Hong Kong I made more money than I could have ever imagined making.
Six years later I was single again and unemployed back in my home country, but a different city from the one I had left. Sleeping in a relative’s basement and no home of my own. Inching towards broke.
Right back where I had started, but only older.
I had always thought I was always unlucky but I had finally realized that the problem was all me.
I was the poster child for the Dunning-Kruger Effect. I was too stupid and ignorant to know how stupid and ignorant I was because if I had the skill and knowledge necessary to know how stupid and ignorant I was, I wouldn’t be stupid and ignorant in the first place!
It was in my depths of despair that I made a commitment to learning instead of merely seeking an education. The focus became about understanding instead of simply knowing.
Fast forward another 15 years and I have a wife, a child, made the VP ranks, made more money than I ever thought I would make, and have more letters after my name than in my name.
Also, I no longer have a stable job after a solid 9-year run.
But I’m still learning and trying to be more understanding of the plight of others.
The best part?
I finally discovered the secret to winning at life: simply get up one more time than you’ve been knocked down and help others along the way.