Don’t ever forget to stop and be thankful for everything you have. Even for just the smallest of things. The shitty thing about life is that all of us, you, me, your neighbor, everyone… We are out buzzing about playing with our pets, taking our kids to the park, out on a walk, or at work… We are literally just rippin along doing whatever the hell we need or want to do and we struggle to remember to stop,
take a deep breath,
look around and observe what can be seen,
soak everything in,
and remember to be thankful. Thankful you’re able and allowed to be where you are, doing what you’re doing at the current time you’re doing it.
Just remembering to do that could completely change the trajectory of the entire day! On top of that It could always be worse. You could have much less… You could literally have nothing. It’s the small things that are hard to be thankful for. You can’t succeed or have any success in life if you don’t stop and remember to be thankful for what you do have and what you have been through first. I’m talking about the good and the ugly, the pain and the sorrow. Be thankful for the good times because they’re easy and the bad times because, though they are hard, they taught you a lesson and made you stronger. For example…
My ex wife and I made the worst mistake ever and spontaneously moved across the United States to Knoxville Tennessee from Boise Idaho when we were 18. Thankfully, at this time, my stepson was the only one of our three children born at this point in our lives though still a big responsibility. I was promised all this work by my ex’s dad and he did not follow through with it. I was forced to walk up and down busy highways with my stepson on my shoulder applying for job after job with no success. I tried everything! It was such a miserable time of my life. All I wanted to do was be able to provide for my family and everywhere I turned was a dead end. There were many times my ex and I went without food just so that my stepson was able to eat and that is no joke.
My ex and I would get in these gnarly arguments about it. About how I needed to find a job and all I could do is tell her that if we were in Boise it wouldn’t be a problem. I would tell her that if we were back in Idaho I would be able to find a job without any sweat. Somehow we stayed together through it all and managed to live in Tennessee for a whole year. That means the three of us made it a whole year living in the projects on a waitresses salary. Back then a waitresses salary was like $2.50 an hour before tips. It took what seemed like forever but, we were finally able to come up with the money to buy bus tickets to get back home. In fact I think we used her tax return to pay for bus tickets to get back to Boise.
I have to say though, If it wasn’t for that struggle and deep painful heartache I had to go through, I would have never learned that no matter what under absolutely no circumstances do I ever, put a woman and child of any kind in such a vulnerable position where I am jobless. I’m a man for crying out loud and it is supposed to be my job to care for and protect my family. I’m supposed to be the one putting food on the table! Especially when I willingly and knowingly took on the responsibility to care for a woman and child. I also learned another very valuable lesson in this and that is that if I ever want to quit one job, then I already need to have a second lined up and only quit one job for another job if the pay or benefits are better. Otherwise… There’s no point.
I’m thankful I had to go through that though because I learned so much about my ex, my stepson, and especially myself!!! On top of that it made my romantic relationship with my ex even stronger especially once I started working and proved to her that I knew that I had to get to work and provide for her and her son. While we were in Tennessee and I couldn’t find work, I just remember, I wanted to work so bad that I would have done anything. Living that one year in Tennessee without a job made me so hungry, Just hungry to provide for my family, hungry for work, hungry for money, hungry to do anything to show that I wanted to provide and I was willing to work, hungry to succeed, and hungry for any kind of work. I didn’t care if it was McDonald’s or if it was some kind of hard physical labor. There was only one thing in the world I wanted to do at this time of my life and that was hurry up and get my ass back to Boise so that I could provide for my new little family like a real man should. Making enough money so that my ex could be a stay-at-home mother. We did finally make it back to Boise and as a matter of fact, for a couple years, that’s exactly what they did. My ex became a stay at home mom and I just worked my ass off.
There was so much misery but somehow Through all the hardship we managed to make it back to Boise and I almost instantly went back to work. I worked my ass off and finally, they were able to stay at home. Not long after we made it back to Idaho, I found a job, I was able to get to work, and before I knew it, I was providing for my family. I actually felt like I was doing what a real man should do. Finally I had self worth. I absolutely enjoyed going to work every morning. Now my daughter has been born and I just feel like a very adult man doing the right thing. No matter how hard I had to work I always had the energy to get through it. If for some reason I was exhausted or stopped to second guess my job all I had to do was stop and think about my ex and the kids and that would be all I needed to get back on the grind. Not only did that trip to Tennessee make me hungry for work it taught me I cannot do anything to get fired. It also taught me that if I can’t see a future with this job or the job I’m moving into… Then what the hell am I doing other than wasting my own as well as other people’s time…
Thank you for reading and I hope you can relate! A positive outlook results in positive work and positive work turns into a positive result. Don’t ever forget… If donkeydidit… You can too!
#donkeydidit
#thatquadlife
#thestruggleisreal
Uncle Donkeys Tales 