Past, Present and Future

Contrary to this post's title, I'm going to begin with the present because it just makes more sense to me to start with who I am today. I'm a 32-year-old father and husband of a baby boy, a wonderful wife, and two loving pups located in Dayton, Ohio and currently working full time as a banker. My son is almost 7 months old and, like most people, being a parent is one of the most rewarding things that I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. That's not to say that it doesn't come with its challenges but the good far outweighs the bad. Truth be told, my wife and I haven't experienced anything we'd truly consider bad, so I'll use frustrating or difficult instead. Suffice it to say, my son is currently the pride and joy of my life and most of what I do now is for the betterment of his future. Some might ask, "So that's why you're looking to switch careers, huh? To make more money to help raise your kid?" Who knows if anyone would actually ask themselves that about me; but folks switch careers all the time, so it can't be that out of the ordinary, right? Well, my answer to those questions is, "No. Kind of. But also, yes...kind of."

Let me explain. I know there are financial upsides to this kind of career switch and they would certainly benefit both my family and me, so I have no shame in admitting that I'd like to earn more than I currently am. But at the same time, I was just being a fool in the past. I'd say it's a mix of not knowing along with ignorance and a little bit of self-doubt. You see, I thought years and years ago that you had to be incredibly smart to get into coding, as well as understand both math and computers at an extremely high level. While these attributes don't hurt, I now realize that they're not an absolute requirement either. I always just assumed that they were necessary and that I wasn't able of accomplishing it so I never even looked into it. There was also self-doubt that played its role very well in deterring me from pursuing coding as a goal/career.

This takes us back to the present. I've done my research, as I do with most things now that I'm about 12 years older than when I had these notions completely wrong in my college days. I realize now that I can achieve these goals and I no longer look at my goals as unobtainable or too lofty like I once did. I know it will take hard work, time, effort and perseverance, but so does anything worth accomplishing. Along the way, there will also be obstacles to climb over and ruts to dig myself out of but in the end, it will be incredibly worth it because I'll have accomplished something that's been in the back of my mind all these years. I may be years behind where I could've been, but one thing I've learned is that you can't overanalyze the past to the point where you regret your choices and decisions. All you can do is learn from them and work on bettering yourself going forward and that all starts with what you choose to do in the present. Now my sights are set on the future and I can't wait to see what it brings. I welcome anyone who may stumble across this blog to join me in all the failures and eventual successes that will come along the way!

For anyone who was willing to read to this point, I thank you. I plan to update this blog with anything pertinent to what I may be learning or working on as well as let you know more about me overall.