The Green-Eyed Monster

Greetings,

*RANT WARNING* Read at your own risk. *RANT WARNING*

I know that there are certain people out there who are jealous of me due to what I have achieved and what I am currently doing. I have my dream job, and hopefully in the not too distant future I will have bought my own home, possibly without even having to worry about a mortgage. These two things, I know, are going to irritate people. I have two words for these people STIFF S#*T.

Let me fill in some details which will put these two aspects of my life in some perspective for these small people. I will start with the owning my own home and the various things that I will be buying and money I will be spending on myself and my lovely wife over the next months. I have received this money through the deaths of both of my parents over the past years, and quite frankly I would rather have them both back than have the money. So, I am doing my best to use this money in a fashion that would make them proud and improves my life.

With regards to my dream job as a fencing instructor, which I hope one of these days will actually start paying me money to really live on, I have now been fencing for more than two decades. It disturbs me a little when I say that, but it is true. I have also been teaching and researching for most of that time as well. Evidence for this can be found in my own fencing blog, various articles posted in various places, and the existence of my new fencing school. Contrary to many popular opinions, this has not been an easy road, and not one that I cruised down with ease.

There were hard choices to be made in the beginning. First of all, I could have chosen to study something that could have made me money much more easily, or choose to do what I did and choose to study history. I could probably have chosen something for which I could have had a well-paying job at the end of it with no worries, but my passions over-rode this. This laid the foundation for my method of research and a level of requirement for evidence.

Second choice, I could have stuck with sport fencing and done quite well. I had a certain innate talent, and I seemed to be built for it. Once again, I followed my passion for history, also there seemed to be something missing in sport fencing that research in to historical weapons and their use had. This laid the foundation for my direction, and for the most part, my weapon preference.

So, you take these two choices, add some time, research, and complications, and this is where I am now. I have gone back and looked at previous research and re-done, and re-written. I can tell you, I hate editing my own work. The thing here is that this has all taken time and effort on my part, so unless the same time and effort is taken, well no real judgement can be made. I made the choices, I accept the consequences of those choices, that is what being an adult means. No, it has not been an easy path, but that was not the choice that I made.

Having said all of this, I can in no way say that I did it all on my own. There have been some significant people in my life who have helped me through my various trials and tribulations to get me to where I am. I am not going to name names here as I know that I will miss someone and, quite frankly that would be awful, and embarrassing. You know who you are and you have my thanks.

If you have made it this far, I make only one request of you. Do not look at other's achievements, look at how they got to where they are. It makes for a much more interesting story, and you may discover some things about yourself along the way. If you see someone and begin to feel the pangs of jealousy growing within yourself, look inward for the answers not outward, see how you can better yourself, not bring others down.

Cheers,

Henry.