Using Pain to Focus on What Matters

A recent Facebook message got me dreaming about life without a job. It wasn’t a pretty picture. I didn’t like it one bit. That dream, even through the vertigo haze, reminded me that I still have the power to think, reason, create, and succeed. I also have the fortitude to tackle things most people would see as unclimbable.

A History Of Getting Back Up

I’ve done this before. In 1992, my life shifted on its axis after losing a girlfriend I thought would be my first and last. My emotions spiraled down for two years. Then I found the grit to lift myself out of the chasm.

For the next few years after that, I wore a $100 suit every day and carried a near-empty briefcase to the local employment office. I was dressing the part of the person I wanted to become. It worked. By early-1996, I landed a six-week temp job in a government department. That was the in I needed to start climbing the ladder.

Later that year, I met, dated and married my second girlfriend in 1998. I’m glad I found the perfect person to marry. She became the love of my life, my best friend, and my partner.

By 2012, after 14 years of shoveling through the daily grind, I found a role that let me use every skill I’d acquired over the previous two decades. It was fun. It suited me.

The Next Big Push

In 2011, an odd moment happened during my work-day in State Government: I suffered a severe bout of Vertigo, with my inner-ear balance turning my head into a carousel of bouncing horses. That kept me in hospital for about six weeks (and I still suffer from it to this day).

Despite recovering from the vertigo, I’m now focusing my dreams on two things: Fixing my situation and helping to be a husband and new father! So I am focusing on what matters, not what’s hurting, albeit not that simple.

I’ve got a massive projects to create and execute over the next 11 months. I’m organising and participating in a photo gallery with three or more people. This includes the person I want to support, plus a few others I think will want to be involved.

You might think that’s a lot for one person to juggle while holding down a 9-to-5 government job and doing all the normal stuff. I know I can do it.

Fortitude, Strength, And Belief

These are characteristics I have, despite what a few people might believe or have seen of me lately.

I’m not quitting. I’m certainly not giving up. This is where I begin again. To those who didn’t believe in me: thank you. You’ve only strengthened my determination to achieve any goal I set for myself.

IMPORTANTLY: Our newborne baby boy isn’t going to survive without my help. It’s time to get off the couch, get on with life, and do everything I can to make myself better. I ain’t letting this moment tie me down or hold me back. This too will pass.

What are you doing today to move forward?