Sunday, August 29, 2021

Save Your Pity

My last rant received this reply:

“So sorry you’re suffering.

I’ll try to submit more jokes.”

OK… I was originally going to rant about how good my dad’s home grown tomatoes are this year, but fuck it.

Hopefully the suffering won’t be in vain. Over the years I financially spent my way into a very deep hole trying to maintain a comfortable though rather modest standard of living. The idea was that I would receive steady raises and eventually make enough to pay it down and one day pay it off.

The employer that I served for 23 years castrated that plan by reducing benefits, imposing a pay freeze, and destroying multiple retirement plans, so I resolved to cut my losses. My original plan was to deliver Amazon packages while I cleared my head, but even though I actually landed that job, a different fate awaited me.

Instead, I had the good fortune to be approached by a head hunter which lead to a much higher paying position. I now have a very real chance at getting out of debt much sooner than I could have ever hoped. However, there is a downside. Being much older now, this opportunity is more of a challenge physically than I had anticipated. I was already pushing the red line at my last job, but my new job has seriously been rattling my bolts off.

So the possible outcomes are as follows:

1. The new job proves to be too much. Within weeks or months, I will fall back on Amazon, and short of bankruptcy, the old debt essentially never goes away. I struggle financially, but my standard of living won’t suffer. I will retire with only my meager social security benefits.

2. The new job takes a heavy toll, but in 2 years I will be completely out of credit card debt. In 4 years, completely debt free. It’s a new day and I’m a greeter at Walmart for my remaining years until I keel over dead.

3. My body adjusts to the new demands. I get out of debt. I start squirreling away every red cent until my passive income exceeds my wages. I retire to a cabin on a lake in the woods.

For now these are the three possible outcomes that are likely at this moment in time. My personal favorite is option three, but just “wanting it hard enough” is a load of bullshit. If fortunes change or my body cannot physically handle the position, it doesn’t matter how much I want it. Reality does not work that way.

And there is always an outcome that I could not possibly foresee, as my crystal ball is only for decoration. I just have to remind myself that Rome didn’t fall in a day and try to stick to the plan so long as it is practical. While I can’t let the doom and gloom news cycle psyche me out, I also have to pay attention to actual warning signs and take prudent steps when necessary.

The bottom line is, I still have to try. I am going to be worn out, cranky, and not in the mood for any of this shit, but option three is somehow feasible (though unlikely), and I have to try.

Kudos

Well, it looks like another week of reddit reposts. Honestly, I think these jokes are pretty solid. Don’t like these jokes? Submit jokes that you do like.

“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them?” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Pax,

-f2x