Self Affirmations

by joelbear 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  joelbear

  I really enjoy reading people's success stories. I will share a couple more of mine but please let us hear more about the personal accomplishments of those here on the board.

  I moved to Jacksonville at 23 to start my new life. I started to college and exempted myself out of many classes by taking CLEP tests. I graduated from Junior College in 2 years with a 4.0 on an AA degree. While in school I again played on the College's Academic Bowl team. At work I was sent into several problem bank branches in order to straighten out their operations. With my degree and my reputation as a trouble shooter, I was promoted to Productivity Officer and thus began my venture into Bank Operational consulting. I had several successful projects and gained the respect of the President of the bank and a number of the executives. In 1986 I went on an Outward Bound Intensive Program for nine days in the mountains of North Carolina. It started me in a new direction in my thinking. Outward Bound puts you in an atmosphere where you are challenged to do things you didn't think you could do and encouragement your teammates to do the same. It is an incredible program that I highly recommend. You can get scholarships if you can't afford to pay for it yourself. I went on a scholarship from the bank I worked for.

  During this time my personal life was still a roller coaster. I was dating sisters and falling in love with a young brother in my congregation named John.

  I watched as all my friends and even my oldest niece got married and I became very depressed.

  In May of 1988 at age 29, I decided that by my 30th birthday things had to change again.

  I went to Key West Florida for a week to try to rediscover myself all over again.
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  joelbear

  Hi all,

  This process is really helping me. Hopefully yall don't mind it too much.

  At age 30 I was DFed, lost all contact with family and friends and moved to Atlanta. I stumbled in my new job there for a year before I was let go in a mass layoff because the bank was not doing well do to terrible executive management. They were all fired about 6 weeks after I was let go.

  I started a coming out support group for men and women who were struggling with their homosexuality. The first day the group met there were 7 of us there. I led the group for about 3 years, during which time hundreds of people of all ages came to discuss their feelings with their peers and make new friends and get support. I felt I had given all I could to the group so I turned it over to several of the regular attendees. The group went on for another 5 years or so until it disbanded, mainly I think due to the fact that the internet provided alternate means for people to reach out to others like themselves. The founding of the Atlanta Gay Center Coming Out Support Group is one of my favorites among my personal accomplishments.

  While working on the Gay center help line, I met another volunteer named Mitch. We are now soul mates and will celebrate our 13th anniversary on March 20, 2002. We have a peaceful contented life with a number of friends that we care about.

  Professionally I started work for a consulting company as an operational consultant and had many successful projects. The constant travelling was not good for my nerves, so I moved to Business Development. I devised product marketing plans that grew us from a $1 million in sales company to a $10 million in sales company over 8 years. I helped us get into major accounts like CitiBank, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank One, and many more and also helped us start a consulting practice in Europe.

  As I have reached middle age, I long to make personal achievements in areas I find more interesting than Banking so I have started back to school and hope soon to start a new chapter in my life.

  Again, I hope others will share their personal accomplishments. As friends, I think we can build each other up, congratulate each other and urge each other on to accomplish more and more.

  take care

  Joel
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  ashitaka

  Joel,

  Very touching; you have to work hard to do what you've done. And congratulations on your thirteenth...what is that one? The first anniversary is the paper, the twentyfifth silver, and fiftieth gold...my parents had a book that told all of them once..some are bizzarre..but anyway...your struggle is very interesting. It's nice to read happy endings. Thanks for the post.

  ashi