Rising Above: How I left and have returned to WA

byKitk35

274 followers

Updated 9 years ago

I had joined this community a year ago last month. At first apprehensive, I soon saw much value in what was offered here; I became a premium member. I had trouble sticking to the course I was seeking to take because my time was divided up between working and family. The winter was a particularly cold and harsh, but I did my best to tough it out. During this time I had been doing ALOT of introspection with respect to my life and choices I had made; both bad and good.

The work I was doing was not bad, in fact, it is well paying and has opportunities to pursue various interests. But, I knew my time was short and I did not see myself retiring from it; it was private security for a power plant. Now it has been nearly a year since I have been there.

The "chaos" happened on the last weekend of March 2014. I have narrowed it down to what I did wrong. To make a long and depressing story short I will point to just one lesson that stands out to me. My wife, child and myself were going to visit my parents on that weekend and when we arrived there they all became concerned about me. They had assumed something was wrong and I insisted that I was fine. Unfortunately, I gave in instead of trusting my own INTUITION and standing firm. It got worse from there and I am still dealing with the fallout from that damaging mistake.

My life and theirs was literally turned upside down. I found myself restricted legally, from going back to work. By June, I was feeling pretty low, among other emotions, and I decided to cancel my premium membership because I was not doing anything with it and I could no longer afford the membership fee. As the year dragged out, I refocused and made changes, while going over the events from that weekend over and over; I still think about it now.

I see it now as an ultimate test; one I had failed, but I have always strived to learn from my mistakes. Another point is that I had come through a VERY tough thing and found I had/have an opportunity and time on my hands. At various times throughout the year, money would show up in various amounts. I did my best to invest it in things that could better my situation, improve on the ideas I had and still have. Make my dreams a reality and knock off the procrastination, as well as, clinging to self-doubt and despair. In short, I have been left with no more excuses; it is either do it or don't do it.

I began to seek ways, once again, to make money on the Internet; or as Kyle put, the wild west. I like that way of thinking because in many ways the Internet is like the frontier of the "old west" and this community, I could look at as a trading post of sorts or even a fort where the Mountain men and Native tribes would gather to interact and trade. I could carry on with a variety of ways to look at this site, however, my observation is that it is perhaps the best place to learn about building a business/presence, etc, online. As I said, I was looking again, while also, focusing on my areas of interest, such as, writing; mostly fiction.

I found some stuff out there, but I am no longer the type who thinks I can "get rich quick" or overnight. And no one else can do the work for me. If you are new to this community, or even the idea of building an online business, there is no other site that has the resources available that are here; at least, not in the structure. There are some imitators, however, I guess maybe I was spoiled when I found this site and I hold those others to compare with this site here.

I have found some useful and, to me, new stuff. One site is Udemy.com. I recently signed up, but have yet to use it. For those who may not know what it is, it is a platform and market for classes; just about anything that you want to learn about you can find it there and it might be affordable. Also, say you have an area of knowledge or expertise, you can sell courses on there yourself; much like, the option available here to create training, except I think that site is pretty broad.

Of course, if anyone has more experience, bad or good, please let me know. For those who might be having difficulty finding a niche, that might be an option. I intend to explore it myself and will likely link to it, once I get a website built.

The best thing I can say is stick with it. Circumstances differ and you likely have your own tough experiences, however, do not let it kick your butt! Turn it around, learn from the good and bad, then, use it. I have been seeking to build a website, but lack the knowledge and experience; I found what I need here.

I have returned with renewed vigor, better focus and true motivation.

As always, comments, suggestions, and questions are most welcome. Thank-you for reading and I look forward to working with any and all.

Chris K. (Kitk35)