This past summer I allowed myself to get close to someone who, for lack of a better phrase, didn’t understand my “life attitude”.

Our time together was limited – only about 2 months.  Some might have labeled what we had as a “dating relationship”, but nothing was ever formally established between the two of us.

It was a very weird period of time.  I was making weekly road trips up and down I-75 to care for my Mother and my Brother who were BOTH in and out of the hospital in South Georgia.

From the beginning, things were never quite right with him and me.  And though, we had an attraction for one another, our likes, interests, and commonalities rated around a 3 on a scale of 1 – 10; with 10 being Perfect Match.

As I see it, I think my involvement with this guy may have merely been a distraction for all the craziness and chaos that was going on in my life.

His uneasiness with my “life attitude” and carefree lifestyle was a key topic of our discussions on most days.

Let me explain:

From the time I graduated from college, I had been working a career in which I had been successful for close to 30 years.

During those years, I had worked for only 3 companies and all were BIG named companies.  I was “vested” in all 3 companies – meaning my retirement was already established.

I had no children, no husband, and I was earning a pretty decent salary.  I had concluded that my only reason for working like a Corporate Slave was to Buy “Stuff”, Pay for “Stuff”, and Accumulate more “Stuff”.

After all those years of working for “Charlie”, I had come to the conclusion that Corporate America pretty much sucked!

So, In January of 2011, I woke up from what seemed to be a nightmare and got off of the Corporate merry-go-round.

I began dabbling in a couple of business ventures with two other partners and started working for a small family owned business.

In addition, I allowed myself to make more time for my personal journaling and writing and started doing some business consulting on the side.

I figured out a way to reduce my work hours to part-time!  I finally started enjoying my life by doing all the things that I wanted to do.

My “friend’s” life journey has been so much different from mine.  The extenuating circumstances in his life kept him constantly “riding” on the merry-go-round.   He did not understand and probably won’t be able to identify with my plight for a very long time.

Thus, he scorned me for being 50 years old, carefree, and for not being “serious” about the direction of my life.  Some days, he harped on it so much that I actually questioned my own ability to “maintain”.

I suspect that his displeasure with where he was in his own life, combined with his inability to understand how I could constantly be so blithe, made him believe that it was ok for him to act haughty and treat me with contempt.

I was disturbed by his behavior and whether he knew it or not, the way he constantly acted toward my life’s direction hurt my feelings.

Even through the darkest hours of my Mother’s extended illness, I remember him looking at me with what I felt was disdain and saying: “If you had a ‘real job’ with solid benefits, vacation hours, and such – you would not feel such a struggle… a higher salary would do you good right now.  One day you will wake up and realize you’ve made a mistake.”

Not long after that, my Mother passed away.

My “friend” and I parted ways.  It was mutual.  We had no hard feelings.

I had NEVER asked him for anything – monetarily or otherwise.   The funny thing was that from the tone of his financial complaints, I often believed that I had more money in my pockets and in the bank than he did.

He complained a lot.  I think he believed that his job was “solid and stable”.   He would spout beliefs of Corporate Stability all whilst pining about being over worked, under paid, and rarely, if ever, appreciated.  I didn’t understand THAT.

Today, I learned that my “friend” has now been laid off by that so called “real job”.  Ironically, he was laid off from the same company that I resigned from 2 years ago.

After my 12 year run with that company, I concluded that those Corporate Yahoos had no regard for my personal well being.   I felt that Corporate Management no longer cared about their hardest working employees.  I had basically become a Corporate Zombie.

Times had changed.  I was looking at my life differently.  I felt it was time for me to get out and take a chance.

Not everyone can do what I did.

Everyone’s circumstance is different.

In business life and in choosing what to do to make a living you must do what you love and never surrender.

I truly believe that if you do THAT you will always be happy.

Subsequently, no matter where you work or how you choose to make a living – you must do what YOU FEEL IS RIGHT TO PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY.

I don’t know the story of my “friend’s” departure from that company.  I don’t expect that I ever will.

I wish him only the best in life and I trust that he will recover quickly so that he can continue to provide for himself and his children.

My hope, though, is that in the future he will be more careful with how he looks upon the choices that other people make with their lives – especially with regard to how they provide for themselves and make a living.  Albeit, Big Corporation or Small Mom & Pop, Full-time or Part-time employment.

Understand THIS:  The Corporate Castle may look “solid and stable” but it could crumble on you at any moment.

No one is EVER safe.

Keep THAT in mind.

The next time you bust your ass for 70 hours in a work week with no overtime pay, you should think:   Is this really worth it?