When I was a kid
When I was a kid, I thought it would be cool to play baseball in college. More than that, I thought it important to go to a good school. I worked really hard, got lucky, and I did.
When I was in school, I thought it would be neat to double major in physics and economics. I played baseball, but I was on the bench most of my first two years. I thought it would be better to start every game. I worked really hard, got lucky, and I did.
A year or two later, losing all the time fucking sucked.
I thought it would be better if we won our conference or even went to the College World Series. We worked really hard, we got lucky, and we did.
Another two years later and my first job was a nightmare.
I thought it would be better if I got paid to write code. I stayed after work every day and coded. I learned about databases on the weekends. I didn’t have many friends. I applied to hundreds of jobs, my first manager took a chance on me, and now I write code for a living.
That first dream job was less fun during a global pandemic.
I found myself hiking a lot. What’s the best job for a hiker? Working at AllTrails, duh. What’s better than working at AllTrails? Living in Utah, going outside, and working at AllTrails. I worked really, really hard, I got lucky, and I did.
A few years later and I was still remote.
I realized I like working with people in an office. I rearranged my life, sold everything, and moved to the Bay Area. I got tossed around, lied to, and depressed. I lost touch with friends.
I didn’t quit.
I hosted meetups, wrote newsletters, recorded videos. One day, a connection helped me out. Now, I have a job at Replit. I worked hard, had some bad luck, but then I had good luck.
After school, I really missed athletics, but I always loved strength training and nutrition. I trained smart and hard. I made sacrifices. I STILL train smart and hard and make sacrifices. I’ll NEVER stop.
I amaze myself with how strong I am.
If you’re like me and always looking for the next big thing, it can be easy to forget how far you’ve come.
Take some time to look back on everything you’ve accomplished and how lucky you are. It might help you take a deep breath and be content, if only for a little while.
Along the way, don’t forget to talk to people.
Skip out on a meeting, take a break from working overtime, cut your routine short and go talk to real people, in person. Otherwise, you might wake up one day and realize you don’t know anyone.
The journey is a long one, you might as well enjoy it.