Starting Over

I was wondering if any of the membership has ever had to start over from pretty near ground zero. Maybe a housefire, nasty divorce what ever. Any lessons to be learned?

 

Good afternoon Randy,

I'm one of those members.

Being in the proleterate, I must work.

The main tip I can offer re working the business side of the oil industry is to "Keep your resume current" - both figuratively and literally.

Can't place any interpersonal relationship matters on the web.

 

I've been fortunate, never had to start over. Took a new direction a couple times but still had my assets.

 

I've started over twice. The first time doesn't really count because I was very young, and chose to get rid of everything I owned (which was pretty meager) that didn't fit in a suitcase before I left to work aboard the ships.

The second time was 2018 when we left South Africa for Canada. The cost of shipping a container across the world was just prohibitively expensive. So when we stepped out that plane in Halifax there was no cars, no home, no assets of any kind, just a few clothes and our cellphones.

For me it was the chance to say "do I really need that?". When we started building on our newly acquired property there have been many chances to decide if all the trappings of our previous life were necessary. Did I need a microwave? No. Did I really need a big flat screen tv? No. Did I even need a hairdryer? No.

Starting over let's you evaluate what's important. Nature is important. Having each other. Having our dogs. Being away from crime in a peaceful soul healing place is important. Keeping up with the Jones's is not.

Just my point of view.

 

I was sick for several months in my late 20's. I had no income. Luckily, I had paid off my home, I had a few bucks stashed for an emergency, and I had a few months of food in the home. When I was well enough to get a job I had under $100 to my name.

This was not really starting over. Being aware that this could happen and preparing saved my assets. If I had, had a mortgage I would have lost everything. If I didn't have food stashed I would have been hungry. Today I have more food, more in my emergency cash, and two houses later I still pay them off as fast as I can. My last mortgage was paid in a couple of years. Luckily, all my tough times have occurred when my home was free and clear.

My point is this, get out of debt, have an emergency fund, and have plenty of food etc. All emergencies are individual. All national emergencies are regional. All regional emergencies local, and all local emergencies affect the individual. You can get sick, injured, or unemployed without affecting your community but if the community goes down you better be prepared.

 

All our kids have developed chronic diseases. Wife develops cancer; surgery; bills. Latter 1990's tech jobs leave for China; I get laid off; long unemployment. Son gets killed in car accident, doctors bring him back; now crippled; we house him. Daughter dies, funeral bills. Medical bills mount, however a Catholic hospital ate a lot of medical bills. Hospital saved son's life; socialized medicine would have let him die (actually, he was kind'a dead already; in any other country, he would have died; high tech med was all that saved him). Constantly moving to get jobs. Where I work now paid for surgeries that put my upper body back together; that saved us tens of thousands of bucks. Once upon a time I had a nice house and five cars paid off. Poof! Hell comes a' knockin' at your door. "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away." Me and my cane are limping through it all. I came from fighters.

 

I started over in my mid 40's. Had a great job with a great company then got "Re-engineered". I'm sure many here remember that term. My career ended that day.

I made a new start on a new path, and have survived. I have been gainfully employed ever since. Kept my home, and educated my kids. It changed me forever. My work ethic is 180 degrees different. My resume was never out of date after that, and I never stopped looking for a better job. Never ever think your job is safe. If the numbers aren't right you will get thrown out like yesterday's trash.

I have been fortunate to have never had any kind of significant material loss. One of our colleagues from a previous forum got wiped out in the California fires a few years ago. What he went through gave a whole new meaning to devastated.

 

Here's yet another story about those trapped in the decaying country of South Africa. I'll be honest here, these S.African farmer murders deeply disturb me. It's just so easy to put yourself into the situation of being a farmer doing your best just to get in a sufficient harvest ... only to be attacked by sick monstrosities.

https://news.yahoo.com/murder-mayhem-farming-free-state-125621042.html

I am dumbfounded that politically-correct Yahoo published this article. Usually the MSM goes about actively suppressing truths that conflict with their new world order dogmas. The death count among white farmers in ANC-ruled S.Africa is over 7,000. Currently, it is the murder of Nigerian and other African nationals running businesses in S.Africa that barely make the news.
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