My Three Years
by David Deutsch
Although I have not been a FourStory contributing writer from the start, I would like to share my past three years with you to celebrate our third anniversary. As for so many people in the Southland and around the country, the past few years have been filled with ups, downs, further downs, even further downs, and a dramatic swoop back up. I have learned a great deal about myself, which frankly would have been impossible without the economic struggles I’ve faced.
In July of 2007 I was approaching my final semester of graduate school at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. Even though I was somewhat underwhelmed by their Communication Management masters program, I learned a lot from some excellent instructors. I also made fantastic connections there, including the one and only Tony Chavira, who invited me to write for FourStory in the first place.
Anyway, in July 2007, I dusted off my resume and began applying for jobs to prepare for graduation.
And so I applied for jobs.
Then I applied for more jobs.
And then I applied for yet more jobs.
Fifty sent resumes later, I got no response. One hundred more resumes later, I was greeted with silence. When I started at USC, I was sure my Annenberg and Trojan networks would carry me through the tough times. But as my graduation date approached, my student loan funds were drying up and job offers were not coming. And in spite of hundreds of resumes being sent, nothing came from them. It was more than a little scary. At first I assumed it was because of my history of being a job-hopper. But at a certain point I knew we were headed for, if not already in the middle of, a recession. Little did I know how bad it would be.
After working for a couple of places briefly—none of which worked out—I lapsed into a pretty deep depression. I felt worthless, useless. The term structurally irrelevant bounced around my head more than once. My dad even sent me money for the first time in my life. Until that time, I was proud that I had never, not once, received money from my folks since leaving my home in New Jersey in 1994. To manage my sanity and scrape together what little pride I had left, I told my Dad—and myself—that this was merely a loan.
Then at the last minute, in February 2009, just as all my money was nearly gone, I snagged a job in Orange County. Thrilled beyond belief, I picked up my stuff and moved to the OC, excited about the future, fearing nothing.
Of course, the major problem with living in the OC is that, well, it’s the suburbs. I hadn’t lived in the suburbs in a long time. I’m a city boy at heart and had grown accustomed to my dirty, crime-ridden Koreatown neighborhood. By contrast, the suburbs were dry, boring and whitewashed. Still, the prospect of full-time employment was way too enticing. So off I went to work in Irvine and live in Laguna Niguel.
Eleven months later, I found out that this job wasn’t a good fit for me either. Then my girlfriend of two years unceremoniously dumped me. So yeah, life wasn’t fun.
Once that job ended, I did not relapse into a depression. Quite the opposite, I rediscovered a long-dormant optimism that suddenly burst out of me. And I had a huge epiphany: given the scarcity of jobs out there, and my own history of job-hopping, I probably should try being my own boss. Once I decided this, I started my little communications consulting shop with a specialized focus on creating and executing harmonized communication strategies. Since making that decision, things have decidedly turned around for me. I signed up with a business networking group and ended up on the board of directors after three months. And not only did I join the first Toastmasters club in the world; after only one year of membership, I’m the president. I’m also finally going to self-publish a book I’ve been sitting on for way too long. And that’s just for starters.
Since money is tight, I decided to swallow my pride, put 95% of my stuff into storage and move into a shared house with three other people in Irvine. Granted, my bedroom is about the size of my bed, and I have very limited space in my shared fridge. And Irvine is, well, Irvine. But I like my new place; I am now able to save money, be closer to my clients (and friends) and have a much shorter commute to L.A.
Sure, things have been tough over the past three years. But it was through this suffering that I learned a lot about myself which I could not have learned without the challenges thrown my way. Although I’m pretty much broke, I’ve never been happier.
On a side note, I’d like to send a hearty thank-you to the grub worms on Wall Street. If it wasn’t for you nearly bringing the global economy to its knees, I never would have figured out that the only thing I hate more than working in corporate America is your greedy, sorry, pathetic, spoiled, narcissistic, shallow, selfish, lying, manipulative, emotionally-stunted, temper-tantrum-throwing asses.
Life is good.
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