The Black Informant

Things you learn when you don’t have much

It wasn’t too long ago that yours truly was pulling a 9-to-5 grave shift working as a security guard at a nearby hotel. Before that, my hours were either 10-5am or 11-7am working at various posts (corporate park, dairy farm, etc.). It was during those times that writing on this blog kept my sanity. If the Internet was not available (which was most of the time), there were always those little scraps of paper in my back seat along with any pen (or crayon) I could find to jot down a paragraph or two. Most of the people I worked with during those days always seemed to satisfied and comfortable with “maintaining” mainly because they knew that if they moved up career ladder it would require more out of them. I know this because many of them told me so. They were content with having little responsibility while complaining about pay.

This was the kind of environment where I was faced with two choices: conform to mediocrity or keep climbing. I (actually my wife and I) chose to climb. Here are some lessons learned when we didn’t have much:

# No matter what, find ways to keep yourself encouraged - One of our favorite pastimes is looking through model homes. There were many days where we barely had a dime in our pockets and gas in the car. But it was either sitting at home staring at walls or getting out. We would pick a new community and go through some of the motions as if we were going to buy the house. Some of these homes were on sell for well over a million ( I am laughing while I am typing this). We could care less what the agent was thinking. All we knew that it was helping us to get through that particular day.

For me personally, keeping my mind sharp was very important to me. This meant spending hours learning about new things both online and in the library. I was determined that working the grave shift was not going to vegetate me like it did with many of my co-workers, so I always had a stack of books with me for many of my posts as a security guard.

I was a bit overweight during those days, so I spent time reading about natural foods, exercised regularly and lost about 20 pounds.

# Don’t complain - It was during these days we were living in Colorado. Before I became a security guard, my wife and I cleaned office buildings in Colorado Springs at night. This work at times was humiliating to us because at one time it was us who had offices like this. Now we were the ones cleaning them. As we counted the hours, we worked our butts off with our small kids in tow. We had one goal in mind: get done as quickly as possible without missing one task. We got through knowing that we were going through it together.

While Colorado is a very beautiful state, it gets way too cold for this brotha during the winter. When the office cleaning job got to be too much, we decided to look to call centers for employment. Only one problem: There was only one call center in Colorado Springs at the time that was hiring and I had failed the personality test for a position with that company. Fortunately there was another call center that was hiring–about 50 miles away! I took the morning slot and my wife took the evening slot. Between shifts, I had enough time to talk to my wife for a few minutes, take the kids and drive home. During these days, it would get down to about 30-below (with wind chill factor). Our van had no heat. Instead of complaining, we brought along blankets from home to cover ourselves and the kids. Not only was this hard for my wife, but also for me because like any husband I wanted my wife to be comfortable and safe. Having her drive 50 miles at night with no heat down a dark highway didn’t make me feel at all at peace. We couldn’t afford cell phones, so prayer became our insurance.

When life hands you little, get creative - Not having much forced us to shop smarter. Wal-Mart, Big Lots, Goodwill, and other thrift stores became our stores of choice for food and clothing. As I mentioned earlier, this was a time when my wife and I began to do some in depth learning on healthy eating and wellness. Health products (vitamins, supplements, certain foods) can be a bit pricey, so we began to shift some of the money we spent at the stores mentioned earlier to purchase just some of the many things we needed from the local health food store. While at these stores, we would use the time to expand our knowledge on various products by asking the salespeople various questions. As our income began to increase, we were able to purchase more products. Eventually, I got smarter by buying things like produce and certain herbs and spices on the cheap from some of the international markets located nearby.

Believe it or not, but this is just page one of our life during these days .

If there is anything I could offer to those out there who find themselves in a bind like we were a few years ago, all I can say is just keep climbing–but climb smart! Also, distance yourself from folks who are content with maintaining the status quo because of their dislike of extra work/responsibility. Two of the goals my wife and I set for ourselves a while ago was A. Work completely out of our home and B. Own our own home. Today, I am working from home and my wife isn’t that far behind. As far as buying a home, we will be closing on our home in about a month.

As long as I am breathing, climbing will always be a part of my life. This is just one of those moments in time I am taking time out to exhale and say “Thank you Jesus”.