My loss

My loss

By Derek Sivers

In one year:

My wife divorced(dəˈvôrs) me, and took my life savings.
90% of my company was no longer mine, on a technicality(ˌteknəˈkalədē).
My apartment was destroyed, so I slept and showered(ˈSHou(-ə)r) in the warehouse.
All my employees, led by my good friend and VP, led a mutiny(ˈmyo͞otn-ē) against me. (I never returned, and never saw them again.)
I invested everything I had left in a mutual(ˈmyo͞oCHo͞oəl) fund, which fell(fel) 50% immediately(iˈmēdēətlē), 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(mess) up so bad, I had to walk away. I had done everything wrong, and needed to cleanse(klenz) myself of all those bad decisions(dəˈsiZHən). 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(SHrəg).

We all underestimate(ˌəndərˈestəˌmāt) 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(ˈôsəm) here on the other side.

https://sivers.org/loss