So my story is one of extreme frustration, and I see it happen to a lot of men. Four years ago, I was in a very
tough spot. I was failing miserably in the work force. I had just started a VERY terrible job. I had a “business” that I ran that really did not make a lot of money. It certainly was not enough to keep my family afloat. I had pretty much petered-out as a professional, and it was time to go back to the drawing board. This meant taking a job that paid me about $2,000 per month to start with. Not very much for a father of four that lives in a relatively expensive place. It is not London or NYC, but there are a lot of cheaper alternatives to minimizing your costs.
My problem was not due to high expenses though. It was due to crappy income. All of my friends made more money than I did. Most of their youngest siblings did too for that matter. My wife made a ton more than I did and this had gone on for a long time while I was trying to figure it out. This is emotionally draining. As a matter of fact, it is draining on every level. It SUCKED! There are other words to describe it, but SUCKS-BIG-TIME is about the best description.
When your peers out-earn you, you want to keep this in the dark. When your wife out-earns you, it can create such a level of shame and frustration that you don’t want anyone to know. This is where I was. I was there for a very long time and it was a very dark place. I developed all sorts of defense strategies to mask and cope with that absolute reality. Fear, depression, hopelessness and despondency are just a few adjectives that begin to color the canvas of my professional situation just a few short years ago.
I hated it. I hated me. My friendships were on the decline and I was beginning to hate social environments. Life was really getting bad. I hated my wife and life in general. The only thing I didn’t hate was Fear. I was afraid and it was beginning to take its toll on me.
The good news is that it is not that way anymore. In the next few posts, I am going to cover some basic turning points that really go me on a path of professional recovery. In a few short weeks really, I went from struggling desperately to thriving. Tomorrow I am going to cover the basic skill that set me on the road to recovery. It wasn’t really easy, but it really wasn’t hard. It really just took making a decision and acting on it. Next I will let you know more about a key ingredient of simplifying the tactic of how to Jump Afraid!