As you may or may not know for the last couple of days I’ve been “under” the weather shortly after my latest trip up to Delaware for a military promotional ceremony/celebration.
And I mentioned that the grind doesn’t stop.
Over these last few days I’ve been slowly but surely breaking past the barrier of getting my schoolwork done in a reasonable amount of time throughout the week.
I hate conventional school.
I don’t say that “hate” word very often, if at all, but when I do best believe I mean it.
But, I’ve been sucking it up and getting the work done since I spent the week prior procrastinating which led me to miss an important assignment.
I’m an overachiever and that bothers me when I don’t accomplish tasks.
How I’m starting to perceive university
It’s easy for me to say, “Forget it! I’ll pick up a corporate job and make way more money than what the military pays me for going to school.”
My pride doesn’t buy it.
Remember what I explained to you all in one of my previous stories about how I would approach exams back in high school?
Well, if you haven’t read it yet, you can see what I shared here.
But to sum it up, I excelled in taking exams and didn’t feel the need to prepare for them due to my natural learning capabilities. At the time, I was actually cocky about it but, as I’ve matured, that pride has diminished.
Now when it comes to my schoolwork for college, I’ve set up an entire schedule from day to day on which class(es) I’ll be working on for that particular day. So, my time’s organized enough for getting the work done, I’ve just been going through a “block”, of sorts.
Fuck that!
I told my lady that I just need to stop being a bitch and put my head down and do it, it’s only for a short time that I’ll be doing it for anyway.
Like a temp job.
Just treat it like a regular job that you have to report to and meet deadlines based on the work you do. It’s really not that difficult. I’m such a “break it until you fix it” type of person that my personality clashes with conventional schooling. Don’t get it twisted, I’m very regimented and disciplined in anything I do, but there’s something about being in university where I become weak and incompetent.
I can take certification courses all day, but even then, I’ll only do a couple of those certification courses for a little while then I’ll have the itch to start actually doing the work.
I’m a self-starter; an innovator/creative. This is who I am at my core.
As I said, it’s not that I can’t or haven’t been disciplined or regimented in my life several times over, it’s just that I need to grab my balls and bust through this time that I’m in university.
I’m working through it one week at a time.
Why am I not getting a corporate job?
I have thought long and hard about this, and over the last two years, I’ve been plotting on my next move in that realm. However, I’ve realized that the money I really need is right within the benefits I receive through the military as a veteran.
In case you’re unaware, I’m an Army veteran. I served a year in the Reserves, and 4 years Active Duty.
I finished my time November 18, 2018. That’s a whole story for another time.
Here I am in 2023 after a layoff I went through in November of 2021 where I thought I had a nice corporate position going for me, but the offer was rescinded before I begun orientation.
I was distraught.
I almost got my car repossessed, I was behind by a month on my rent and was directionless. That was a long and arduous journey to be on, but every man must go through it.
I begun educating myself on the benefits awarded to me for doing my time successfully in the military, and got to a point where I was about to implement it, then I realized that I was too stuck in my real life to do so.
This all changed starting the summer of 2022.
What doesn’t kill you makes you a soldier
During that turbulent season in my life, I made an executive decision to pursue the tech industry wholeheartedly.
The last time I was actively involved in doing technical work to sharpen my skills was when I was between the ages of 10–16. I decided to do a coding bootcamp…which didn’t go over well. From that point, I begun another search for better studying resources to burgeon this tech path because I knew I would figure out where I belong within the field.
I was creating Cigar Chef LLC as well during that time.
I was doing all of this while living on one of the many benefits of being a veteran — disability compensation.
I get paid monthly (non-taxed) for the acquired ailments on the account of my military service. I could also get paid for going to college or doing sort of vocational program that the VA (Veteran Affairs) sponsors. I also could buy a home using my VA Home Loan and as long as I choose the right home, I could within a year take the equity out of that and use it as an investment towards more properties.
There’s so much available to veterans, I just hate (there goes that word again) how the information’s virtually estranged from us.
As service members, I believe that we’ve preserved the right to learn how to financially capitalize on the various benefits offered to us whether we’re actively serving or veterans.
Again, I’ll get more into this during a different story thread. Until then, I must finish my schoolwork for the week!
Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll continue to join me in my journey as a budding tech professional and Founder of Cigar Chef LLC. STICKS UP!!!
