What brought me here? Well, I am not sure. Maybe it becomes more clear to me, as I put the milestones in order. So, let's begin.
I was born in 1965. My brother joined me in this world 1,5 years later. Childhood was ok, I suppose. Two things I still remember: I was seeing nightmares during the night and, occasionally, scary visions during the day. They phased out some time during my adolescence. I mention it here, because it may be significant later, I don't know.
Terrible student at the beginning, until I became 15, when for an unknown reason I turned 180° around and became among the top in the class. Passed the qualification exams and entered the School of Chemical Engineering. Graduated in 5 years (normal duration) with a very good GPA. After that, I got a scholarship for a PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame in the state of Indiana, USA. Two years later, I quit my studies with a Master degree and returned home.
Got a job in 1991, later started a business of my own. Got married, had a wonderful daughter (who is now 21). Since 1991, I had been focusing on my career. I worked immense number of hours, but I loved my job so it didn't seem wrong at the time.
First milestone was my divorce in 2004. It was then that I realized for the first time that life is not what I thought it was. Trying to survive the depression from becoming the father of every other weekend, I continued doing what I knew best: working like crazy and neglecting my physical and mental health.
The second milestone was the economic crisis, that struck in 2008. I hadn't seen it coming. I was caught totally unprepared. I had just received a huge mortgage to have my own house built (which was a perfectly fine decision back then, given the economic situation and my income before the crisis). Until 2012, my income had vanished, contrary to my mortgage monthly payments, child support and living expenses. That's when I decided to seek for a job abroad and, after 6 months of actively applying, i got one in Switzerland. Life seemed to smile to me again. Soon, I managed to recover and reached a point of dignity. After 4,5 years, I quit my job and was immediately hired in another company.
Soon after I started in the new job, the third milestone occurred: a near-fatal accident with my motorbike, on the morning of the 30th of May 2017, on my way to work. It sent me to the intensive care unit with multiple traumas, and a few days later to the rehabilitation center for 4 more months. Stuck on the bed and the wheelchair, I had a lot of time to rethink my entire life. The seed was planted in my head, that I needed to do something to get out of this vicious cycle. But the debt and the cost of living did not allow any good ideas to flourish. Fortunately enough, I recovered fully, and returned to work.
A year after my accident, a catastrophic wildfire (the forth milestone) burned my house (the one I built with the mortgage) to the ground. Thank God it was insured, and this immediately meant that the mortgage would be soon out of the equation. The drop-out seed immediately started to bud. I was thinking that, soon my daughter will graduate too, and this would mean that two huge financial burdens will soon fall off my back.
Last February, on the 15th, I became 54. In the same month, I quit my second job. The game was afoot!
Reflecting back to my past, I now know that I lived all my life exactly how the system wanted me to live it. Some people rebel early, others never. It took me more time than it should. But, eventually, it happened.
