Okay, let’s talk about this Stacy Carter thing. It got me thinking, not really about her specifically, but about that whole period, you know? Late 90s, early 2000s. Things felt kinda wild back then, looking back now.
It reminded me of when I first started my proper job. Fresh out of school, thought I knew everything, or at least that I was gonna climb the ladder super fast. Landed this gig, thought it was the big time. Man, I worked hard. Really put in the hours. Nights, weekends sometimes. Trying to get noticed, trying to make my mark. Felt like every little project was the most important thing in the world.
The Grind and The Realization
I remember one specific project. We were all pushing like crazy. My manager kept saying how critical it was. So, head down, just grinding. Eating lunch at my desk, checking emails first thing in the morning, last thing at night. You know the drill.
Then, out of nowhere, company decided to change direction. Big meeting. All that ‘critical’ stuff? Shelved. Just like that. My project, the one I’d lost sleep over? Poof. Gone. Didn’t matter how many hours I’d put in. It was a real slap in the face. Felt like I’d wasted so much energy on something that just vanished.
For a few weeks, I was pretty down. What was the point, right? Felt a bit lost. Started thinking about what actually mattered. Was it just about the next promotion, the next project title? It all felt kinda hollow then.
Finding Something Else
So, I started doing something totally different just to clear my head. Had this old toolkit in the garage, belonged to my grandad. Started tinkering. Simple stuff at first. Fixing a wobbly chair, building a small shelf. Nothing fancy.
- Got some cheap wood scraps.
- Measured them out, sawed them (badly at first).
- Sanded them down.
- Put them together.
It was slow. Sometimes frustrating. Made plenty of mistakes. But holding that finished shelf, something I made with my own hands… it felt real. Solid. Unlike that project that just disappeared into thin air.
It didn’t fix everything overnight. Still had my job, still had responsibilities. But it shifted my perspective. Started focusing more on the actual skills I was learning, the things I could control, rather than just chasing the next ‘important’ thing someone else defined. It wasn’t about Stacy Carter or wrestling, really. It was just a thought that sparked a memory, reminding me how I learned to focus on building something solid for myself, not just playing a role in someone else’s show.
