Starting Over

I graduated from High School in 2005. I went out west to Arizona State University, as far away as I could get from the town I grew up in, and the only house I ever lived in, to obtain my Bachelors.

Needless to say, I’m pretty certain my focus wasn’t “obtaining my Bachelors” but instead to party as much as humanly possible until I “became an adult”. I “became” an adult a lot earlier than expected, with the most handsome surprise ever. My oldest son made his debut into society in May of what would have been the end of my Sophomore year.

There’s plenty of details I’m leaving out, but the main point is that my #goal and my #purpose became doing whatever I needed to do to give my son the best life. In the beginning it was working two jobs and continuing my studies to obtain my Bachelors. When he was 4, I was hired by an organization that made it possible for me to work ONE job, get off State health insurance, and be home more often.

I worked at this company for 15 years, it was both a rewarding and strenuous career. I started at an entry level position, and grew to become an Executive Leader, responsible for multiple departments, corporate #strategy planning, and liaison to our legal team. Much of my career I was a power hungry and financially focused #workaholic. My responsibilities were many and their impact on the organization would help lead us to another 50 years in business. I was burning candles on all the ends, and taking very poor care of myself. It resulted in an urgent displacement to a #Rehab in upstate Connecticut.

After 42 days I was discharged and went back to work a week after being released. The catch was that I also had a step-down program to complete during the day. I would attend my Intensive #Outpatient program via Zoom, and then get right back to conference calls, product development and release, sales operations, marketing, etc.

My #mentalhealth took another hit in June of the same year. This time, I was rushed via ambulance to Bridgeport Hospital. I spent 3 days there and was transferred to ANOTHER hospital for a 14 day voluntary (but involuntary) stay.

I’ll say this … it was a good experience in that I was able to get stabilized regardless of the level of care, but it was an eye-opening and frightening experience baring witness to the most inept #psychiatric unit in the state of Connecticut.

My path was changing, and I couldn’t have ignored it if I tried. Upon release from the hospital, I met with my superior and resigned. His words were,

“I can imagine you feel like this is your last chance. You were given another chance ... and I don't know that you'll have another one. So what’s the plan?”

I changed careers at 37 years old.

I enrolled in a Masters of Social Work degree at a local University. I focused on myself, my kids, and my family for 2 years, and then obtained my Certification as a #RecoverySupportSpecialist in Connecticut. I reentered the work-force at 39 years old at a Behavioral Health/Psychiatric Hospital in Fairfield County. I took a, honestly, life-changing pay cut (Mental Health doesn’t pay), but my contentedness was something I don’t remember ever feeling before. I had so much to offer in this area, I had so much to learn, and I was driven by helping others, not by power and money. I finally felt that my personal history was not a waste, it was now the reason why I am ready, willing, and able to provide support to people from all walks of life.

I'll share this with you also, it really just made me feel seen ...

Remember:

You can start late, start over, lose it all, and fail again and again, yet still succeed.