I walked off that stage with Shania Twain. I couldn’t believed what happened. It was the greatest moment of my life. I couldn’t stop talking about it. I started to say some things including, “I won’t ever be angry again”. “My days of depression are over”. “There’s never a reason for me to be sad again”.

Right? Wrong.

Before that night and after, there’s a little story to be told. Everyone I talk to asks me this. Why did I take a job in a call center. I couldn’t believe it myself when I respond, but I did and it was the worst 5 months of my life. Although a good thing could always come out of a bad thing. I did make friends out of it, which is all I miss. But yes, I wanted a job in a call center to leave another job I had for 3 years at that time.

Time for the first day.

Training days could go either way. You could do well or you could fail. From Day 1, I knew was going to fail. It was a student loan company. I never had one so I knew nothing about them. I was going to be on the phone all day at this job. That was draining. Imagine going to work every day and being screamed at for 8 hours. A curse word directed at you comes out as well. You want to cry and the tension can’t come out of your body for hours after that phone call is done. Me having autism made this stuff coming at me worse. Medication problems were arising during this time too.

2014 was the worst year of my life after meeting Shania Twain in 2013.

After almost the 5th month at this job, a day came that I just snapped. As soon as I snapped, I was in the car on my way to the hospital. Think about it. Why am I going to the hospital when my life should be made? Shania Twain would be shocked. The staff at the hospital were too.

Why, just why was I there?

A tough job and no medicine in a blender was the reason. Stayed 4 nights and returned home. Finally quit the job 2 weeks later when enough was enough.

That whole year after meeting Shania Twain was a year with no job, little friends, little support, and no hope. Every day I would complain about having no job. Even a trip to an amusement park that summer didn’t cheer me up. Seeing friends on my birthday that year didn’t cheer me up. I couldn’t get job coaching for months to help. Christmas wasn’t good either.

Finally, I got a job at a DMV in 2015 with job coaching. I had to switch employment agencies to do this. A unexpected text came from a guy I never expected to become friends with too. We’ve done so many things together like eat out, go to the movies, go to amusement parks, and vacations. Both of that turned all this around and good days came back. I even returned to Disney World that year.

The message I’m saying in this story is even if you may have it all one day, you never know when you may get down. You will find some way to bounce back. To bounce back, always have hope. Also, sometimes you have to experience the bad times before the good. I hope this story gives you something to think about.