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If Your Dreams Don't Serve You, Let Them Go
- stevenkovar 8y agoThe big insight in this post to me is learning how someone else handles a crisis of identity. Something you usually don't know you're going through until it's over and have had time to reflect. Thanks for sharing, Frank.
- frankdenbow 8y agoI needed enough time distance to really analyze if things were making sense or not. As a generally even keel person, I didnt notice how stressed I was until I signed the offer and realized, oh yea, I was holding back a lot of my thoughts and potential.
- xulucy 8y agoReal talk and inspiring talk. Thank you for sharing the honest story and reflection that all in the startup world need to hear.
- frankdenbow 8y agoHad to share, it weighed me down for too long.
- reidjs 8y agoI have a friend in SF who’s addicted to the startup hustle I’ve been trying to convince he should really just get a “normal” tech job for a while. It hurts to watch him struggle with money and I don’t know how feasible it is to start your own company when you yourself are barely surviving.
- TuringNYC 8y agoHe's pretty lucky he's in tech and has multiple paths forward. I have friends in this situation "stuck" at law firms or "stuck" in a medical fellowship. They have now already invested 4 to 9 years and tons of debt into a career with limited realistic choices but to continue moving forward on a path they don't like (sometimes something they got pushed into by family/society/etc.)
- jl108 8y agoFrank, thank you for sharing your story. I've been in a similar situation for the last twelve years (chasing some dream, trying to make it work), and I'm finally letting it go too. Reading your post was so helpful for me (helping me know I'm not alone), and also just tremendously heartwarming because you've found stable ground after all this while. Keep being awesome.
- jareau 8y agoReading this was so refreshing. A few years ago, I shut down a startup I'd spent the past 4 years on and honestly didn't know what to do with myself. In hindsight, it was obvious I was slowly killing myself with stress but I was so attached to the company I couldn't walk away. I appreciate contributions like this to the startup/hustle narrative. Thanks for sharing, Frank!
- frankdenbow 8y agoDid you feel the stress at the time or was it a slow creep? In my case I felt like I as dealing with it fine, but realized a drastic change in how I was thinking after it was over.
- tbabb 8y agoThat color scheme physically hurts to look at. I would like to read this, but I don't think my retinas could take it.
- frankdenbow 8y agoyea you're right, we have to work on it for sure. You can blame me :)
- bemmu 8y agoI liked it in that it conveys "what you're about to read is going to be something different".
- dzello 8y agoThanks for sharing your story Frank. Feelin the honesty hard. I was lucky to be on that GOAP trip with you and Doug. Microsoft just got themselves an awesome new advocate.
- hndamien 8y agoThis is tough. I let go of a dream after 7 years of toil. 6 months later it came true for somebody else that I let it go too. Now to build a new reality.
- avinium 8y agoIf you look back now at the comments you received about limited growth potential/competition/etc, do you agree in hindsight?
- alekseypo 8y agoThanks for sharing! Glad you came through mentally and physically intact.
- webmobdev 8y agoTrue. This is the toughest lesson of life that I still have to master - learning to let go, and not feel like a failure.
- vfinn 8y agoThat was beautiful. One of the best blog posts I have seen in a while. Keep it up.