I wouldn’t have known it was horrible, of course. Like people who live their whole lives and never get to each chocolate (does that even happen?), I wouldn’t have known about the great things that I’d never had.
I was doing several things wrong, early on. First - and this shouldn’t be overlooked - I was eating the crappiest deli meats from the grocery store. Bolognas, reformed hams...meats that offer very little for your palate, and certainly aren’t good for your health. A complete lose/lose. Also, I was spending a lot of time playing silly games on the computer instead of going to class. That wasn’t a good idea, either.
The biggest thing I was doing wrong was focusing my time and energy on things that weren’t really important to me. “Trying to be someone I’m not,” as they say, and it’s a phase we all experience in our early adulthood...and if we’re lucky, we come out the other side. First, I was trying to be a physics major at a top 5 university. Then I was trying to be a do-nothing schlub in a small New England town. Neither one of those was the right speed for me. (If it’s important to the story, I eventually got a Business degree from Catholic University, and now I handle member services and light IT work at an education non-profit in DC. That’s my speed.)
The world needs people who seek excellence, knowledge, fame, and positive change. I desperately hope we have enough of those people, and that they keep coming with regularity. But I found out long ago that I’m not going to be one. And I’m okay with that, even if 17-year-old “go-getter” me doesn’t understand it.
Do you want to know what is important to me? Take a look at those sweet faces in the pictures below. The beautiful lady gets credit for dragging me out of that do-nothing schlub phase over a decade ago, and getting me into some high-quality, name-brand deli meats like pastrami and roast beef. Those kids are an extra-cute and hilariously entertaining bonus. THAT is what gets me out of bed in the morning, and keeps me motivated every day.
(That, and computer gaming. I’m definitely still into computer gaming.)”
