The last word – 2011

[Clearly this blog post should have appeared at the end of 2011.... except I was busy dealing with Flupocalypse. On the mend now... and back on the keyboard.]

2011 was an interesting year for me. Maybe a big year too – I once again had the opportunity to grow up a little.

I came back, from living in the States, at the end of 2010 – I was very very confused. I felt like that person stuck in a paused position while the whole world moved around in fast forward x12. It took maybe 3 or 4 months before I was catching up with reality – life, work , common sense.

THAT is what New York does to you.

 

New York, and experiences of 2010 for that matter, taught me something - Patience.

Patience – the ability to endure shit even when it comes at you in greater heaps.

2011 threw challenges from many angles at me…. patience was the only mechanism fit to deal with it all.

I would finally get that opportunity to be a husband to my wife (after living 5 months apart while I was in NY). It does not matter how well you know someone before marriage – being married changes many MANY dynamics from being an unmarried person. Learning to do things another person’s way is not easy at all and it needs a LOT of patience to understand another person’s point of view correctly.

It turns out I can’t always be right.

Career wise, I was still dealing with very difficult and very illogical people. The easy approach would have been to bail, jump ship, find something easier/”better” to do. But as they say – when life gives you lemons, get a pitcher and start selling lemonade. In 2011, I saw people chase a higher paying job, an easier job, a more glamorous job…. eventually, each of those people were inundated with a whole pile of crap of their own. At sone point last year, I ended up learning that you can complain about work issues to a million people, you will get 2 million different sympathies, but ultimately – nobody cares and the mess you were complaining about still exists.

Be patient, deal with issues one at a time, bask in glory – that is the formula to success.

Finally – education.

I overestimated my ability and underestimated the scope of a certificate that I was studying for. 2 days before the exam, I realized – I have spent a year studying for this, and I could guarantee that I will fail the exam in 2 days time. Again – my options were to cancel my appearance (and save the exam fee) and try again at some point in the future, or go do the exam.

The problem with having more time than you can manage (yes, such a concept does exist) is – one has no motivation to achieve anything. The potential achievement will always be pushed further out…. until you kick the bucket – at which point, you have left the building as an underachiever. The point is – persevering through this point of failure helped me realize things I should be doing better…. and it was the patience and belief in eventually finding the right path that got me through.

I have started studying for the exam once again. This time there will be no mistakes.

The last word of 2011 was patience. It took me a long time to understand my path in life last year, but it could not have been done without  spending time trying to figure it out.