The Benefit Of The World Today Is The Opportunities That Await Those Who'll Go After Them

Money may not make the world go around, but it certainly helps you get where you have to be. It was in the very early part of 2020 when I was exhausted, fed up, and ready to hang up an almost 25-year long career. President Trump was still on television spouting off at the mouth and telling half-truths to America, and I suspect the world. The only thing I was certain of was that there were opportunities out there for a person willing to chase after them, and they couldn't be any worse than the life I was living at the time. So, I uttered those famous two words, I QUIT!!!

What next? In the midst of my mid-life crisis, I knew I needed to take a week or two and think about the future. If nothing else, it would help me to rejoin society as a civilian. So, without the foresight that I would eventually wish I had, I took the time, slept at night as most people do, and decompressed. Then, I ventured out into the strange new world where I didn’t have to carry a firearm everywhere. I no longer needed to worry about the rest of the world and what they were doing. My only concern now was, how do I fit into this world and what to do with the rest of my life. My first goal, at 48, was to get a job. People have two careers in their lives.

Crash! My plan hit an immediate road bump. The Covid-19 virus struck and nobody was hiring. After a year of getting dozens of emails a day about new opportunities and never giving them a thought, things were drying up all over America and the world. Having faith in yourself is key in life. I found that staying positive would make my days seem less daunting, even as my savings continued to take hits, one after another. So I thought outside of the box.

I found a gig working from home. This is a market that I’m sure has grown by now. I didn’t stop looking for something that paid better, or for that matter would better suit my personality. I’d essentially gone from wearing a uniform in a policing agency to doing dispatch work for a non-emergency line for the New York City Police Department. That’s right, out of law enforcement and into law enforcement support, and no, I didn’t have to move to New York. Shocked as I was, the New York City Police Department farms out its’ call needs to call centers around the country. The one I worked through was actually near Des Moines Iowa, but I never had to leave my house in Illinois.

A month or so went by and I saw a job that looked tempting. I retouched my resume, had someone look at it with me, and sent it in. Two weeks later nobody had called. Doing some detective work I found the original advertisement and looked up the company. From there I found the company directory and an email. I emailed a copy of my resume, stating that it was for human resources or someone in management, and waited.

One afternoon I was on my way to a local fishing spot in my area when I got a phone call. It was from a man named David. Normally I don’t take calls while in motion but as I recognized the area it was coming from as the city where the company I applied to was located I had to answer. After a brief discussion about why I thought I could do this job that I was, truthfully, unqualified for I was set up with an interview within driving distance. I met with the head tech for the state.

Here is where the strangest of opportunities can be found. I showed up at a hotel conference room in Northern Illinois. When I walked it the head tech, we will call him F.D., commented on how someone actually showed up. He explained that I was scheduled to be the 4th interview of the day and I was the first one to actually walk through the door. It was amazing to me that nobody out there would want a job like this.

After a brief conversation, maybe thirty minutes or so, I was back in my car with his assurance he would tell the higher-ups that he could train me. Two weeks later I was starting as a telecommunications field technician. It’s been about 13 months and I’m still with the company and my only regret is that I didn’t do something like this sooner than I did. It was a big jump, a giant leap of faith, and put me walking a tight rope without a net, but so worth doing. I wound up making the same money, working in an adjacent field, but not having to deal with a lot of the traumatic events that haunted me.

Life throws curveballs at us from time to time. It’s what we do with those curveballs or those events that will knock us down. There are endless opportunities out there, but as in my case, sometimes we have to chase them. When I started going after this job, I did it the usual way. Don’t be afraid to do what I did. If they won’t open the door for you, sometimes you have to kick it down and let them know why you’re worth giving a shot to at the very least. It’s the strangest benefit of the times we are living in, that a college dropout, a burned-out Deputy Sheriff, and someone without a lot of skills can transition to a happier life in an entirely different field with just a can-do attitude.

Now, here we are heading into October, and my online resume has been looked at 21 times today. I could go on to do something else should things change, or I can stay right where I am, enjoying my days. Only time will tell... But I doubt I'll change anything without a really good reason.