For years and years I worked in corporate America. And after that, I gave more years to corporate America. I guess I couldn't get enough? For some reason, I thought I could live the American dream through corporate America. I'm not sure why I thought this. No one forced it upon me. I did it without thought or question.
For the decade that I worked in the corporate world, it took me a long time to get nowhere and the realize that I had gotten nowhere. You hear the expression of "going nowhere fast". I guess I took the slow path to get to nowhere. I'm not exceedingly smart or completely stupid, but looking back, I would have to consider myself completely naive. I believed a lot of the promises. Raises, promotions, growth, etc. The craziest thing is, the longer I went without a promotion, the closer I thought I was. Thought I was on my way after 3 years. Felt I was closer after 5 years. After 6 years, I just knew it had to be right around the corner. It took me 7 years to finally come to the same realization that my superiors had probably already decided about me 7 years ago.... and there I stood. Reality set in. I finally realized that I had let people lie to me. And I allowed it. I believed everything they said. Never questioning any of it. I was brought up better too. To question everything and not to take anything for granted.
I look back in amazement, wondering how I let that happen. And I don't hate corporate America. It works for some people. I think I probably have too many quirks to play the politics that's are necessary to excel in the corporate world. I started my own business a few years ago, but every so often, I still look back in a cringe worthy fashion.