An old coworker sent me a SI article on former Broncos quarterback, Jake Plummer. Quick note here, I was not happy when Plummer was pulled in the middle of the season for Jay Cutler. The article is about Jake leaving the NFL on top of his game and there was this quote:
"The courage and integrity is in knowing when you've had enough and being able to walk away from all the conventional markers of success. The courage is in choosing family and dignity over artificially extending a career just for the money. We should laud Jake Plummer for standing up for the best in American values."
There are days, moments when I get reminded I still have a long way to go. Go where? I don't know. I realize I am still putting the pieces back together and you can find me sometimes in a vulnerable place, one I thought I left behind in Texas, but I am naive to think that. For the first time since I have turned my back to the "conventional markers of success" I had that moment to remind me, this is not standard. I worked so hard before to achieve things that you are taught are important, and now, now that I walked away from all that, I find myself thinking... what next? Where is my flow chart to success? Where is the path to associate? Marriage? Kids? Do I want to be on that path? If I stay on my path that is dodging the conventional markers of success, where will that lead? Will I continue to lose my cool and comment on long sleeve polos in the middle of my first non-proud moment in YEARS, or is this my journey and fuck the critics? Can I handle the criticism of the unconventional path? Am I strong enough to do it my way? I have to be, I want to be, I wasn't strong enough to do it their way...
"I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time." - Sam Walton
