Derek: “It’s awesome here on the other side.”

Derek....

Over the past couple of days, I’ve talked to hundreds of people (it gets like that on the Fourth of July….you get out here on the island & see lots of folks & they tell you their stories.)

I heard a number of stories about loss – money, love, friends, dogs – and I can feel the hurt and pain that goes with that. It all feels to me to be echoed in this little essay by Derek Sivers, which I offer to you as you pass out of the shadow of whatever loss you may have experienced:

In one year: (2007)

* My wife divorced me, and took my life savings.

* 90% of my company was no longer mine, on a technicality.

* My apartment was destroyed, so I slept and showered in the warehouse.

* All my employees, led by my good friend and VP, led a mutiny against me. (I never returned, and never saw them again.)

* I invested everything I had left in a very conservative fund, which fell 50% immediately, and never came back.

* I invested everything I had left in a different conservative fund, which also fell 50%, and never came back.

* The woman I was madly in love with married the guy she would always complain to me about.

Two weeks after that year ended, three companies called asking if I wanted to sell my company.  Though I had said no to that question for ten years, this time I said yes.

I had messed up so bad, I had to walk away.  I had done everything wrong, and needed to cleanse myself of all those bad decisions.  I needed to take some time to learn from my mistakes, and replace my thoughts with new ones.  A self-made back-to-schooling.

I look back at that year, and know it won’t get much worse.  If I can handle that, I can handle anything.

The company sale was announced.  The first time someone said “congratulations” I said, “For what? I messed up so bad I lost my baby. That’s nothing to congratulate.”   (For future congratulations, I just shrug.)

We all underestimate our ability to massively change our life when it’s gone off track.

Say “no” where you used to say “yes”.  Say “yes” where you used to say “no”.  Do the thing that scares you the most, then get up and go.

For those of you considering a massive change, I can tell you from experience:

It’s awesome here on the other side. 🙂

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