Shortly before my Dad died last Feb 13, he told me that he hated what I did for a living, and that I wasted his college tuition by leaving my secure corporate career to pursue my entrepreneurial passion.
Beside his subtle and not-so-subtle ongoing guilt and shame, I'm approaching 4 full years of flying solo with my home business, fully supporting myself without even a penny of help. When crypto boomed last winter, I had plenty to live comfortably and travel for many years If I sold, but I held it all. I kept grinding with my business and helping my family because I believed in my purpose. Selling my crypto at the time was a shortcut I wanted no part of. At this point, I wish I sold some to reinvest at the bottom, but that's life.
Learning how to sustain yourself independently is the best type of education I feel you can get, and well worth my portion of the tuition I covered.
The Challenge:
The best way I can push through brutal memories is to build right over them. Squash them by proving to anyone watching that I'm capable of living on my terms with genuine passion, hard work, and good decisions.
So, I'm going to royally kick my own ass for the next 24 hours to improve and replace a negative with a positive. I won't have time to think about how he relentlessly (and inexplicably) yelled at me with insults and repeatedly told me he didn't want me as a son with a grin before his final decline, practically the last time we ever spoke.
This post is something I can hold myself accountable to. It's setting the bar high to focus on a goal.
There goals are lofty, but simple:
List 100 new unique listings on eBay from my unprocessed thrifting/upcycling inventory. I'm going to have to part things out, repair some, clean them, etc.. It's a tedious manual process. (This is going to be a BITCH, but life isn't all sunshine and rainbows, unless you do the work. I can't imagine getting any sleep, but "sleep is for those who are broke.")
Two 70 minute gym workouts. (No pain no gain.)
The Finish Line:
I have music studio rehearsal time booked from 9-11 PM tomorrow with a singer and keyboardist, so that's the end point. With any energy left, I'll be able to play music and enjoy some good vibes at my own doing.
Then I'll get some sleep and see what starts selling to really make the effort pay off.
For those who don't know what I do:
I mainly do thrifting & upcycling resale. I've sold thousands of things I've bought on the cheap at thrift stores, and thousands of items I've upcycled from my city's curbs to help the environment. I've also recycled and reused thousands of boxes, and tons of bubble wrap, padded mailers, styrofoam, and other packaging materials. I love doing this and helping the environment and consumers along the way.
If anyone catches this, I may post an update if I'm ahead of schedule. The listings are going to take a ton of time, creativity and hustle, so I may just keep my head down with my favorite music blasting to plow through.
"You will never get to where you want to go by remaining where you are right now." - A very wise person.
Thanks for any encouragement in the comments. It'll mean a lot over the next 24 hours.
Ok, it's 8 PM EST and time to march to gym in the snow to start this mission.
Game on,
