Hi. I'm only 23, but hear me out.
My parents went through a horrible, six-year-long divorce. My dad lost the company he made a huge success, lost all of his contacts, and was working an entry level job at 50.
He worked 80 hour weeks to pay our bills, networking the whole time. He slowly started to build notoriety in our new city, and ended up becoming a partner at the company he started entry level with after 3 years. Still, the money wasn't great, and he was tired all the time.
He never let it show.
Then, one day after I'd moved back home for a different college, I was sitting in his bed handing him a wet rag. He got migraines a lot, but his phone was never off. He worked through the pain until he was forced to lay down, and then worked from his phone.
On this particular day, he couldn't even find his phone. He said “I don’t think I can make this work anymore. I might have a chance if we move to Georgia.”
Within a month, we left New York and drove 16 hours down to Georgia. My dad had no job, we were living with his friend, and he was taking interviews every day. His stress was always well concealed.
I had faith in his plan, because he never let me or my brother see how worried he was.
It paid off.
After working his ass off for three more years, he started a new company. Now, he's 56, and he's finally living the life he deserves after working this hard for this long. He still does most of the difficult stuff by himself, but he actually seems rested when I see him.
He's happy.
No, he probably won't be retiring when he initially planned to, but life happens. You make the best of what you get, and you work hard. You maintain faith in yourself, and never give up hope that things will get better.
He taught me that you can always succeed if you believe you'll succeed.
So believe in yourself. I know that's cheesy, but I’m currently in class with a 74-year-old woman who's getting her psychology degree after being a housewife for 45 years. My dad was five years from retirement, and then worked an entry level job. People start over at all stages of life. If they can be a success after so long, then anyone can.
After note:
Thank you all for your comments of praise. My dad really is a great man, and while he may not be a master of social media, he wanted to send his appreciation to all of you. Your comments brought a very big grin to his face, but he just said I did a great job. Ever humble, but I could tell he was proud of himself too. Thank you for reading, and don't give up on your goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment