It was ten years ago this summer. A song came on the radio that saved my life. Seriously. If ever I was in a position where I needed to shake off the B.S. before it destroyed me, that was the time.
By 2014, after a decade of hard work, sacrifice, and loyal service to my employer, I’d been handed an untenable situation. Tasked with three full-time jobs — my own responsibilities as a lowly manager leading a large team, plus the added workload of two communications executives who left the company in succession — I was told in no uncertain terms to put up with it and shut up.
Enter Taylor Swift.
Sometimes a song just gets you through it, you know? Shake It Off was that song for me. How did Taylor know–and then bottle it up in a song so perfectly–that the haters were always gonna hate, hate, hate? And that the fakers were always gonna keep on fake, fake, faking their way to the top jobs, while the rest of us got pushed aside, spit on, and marginalized.
But see, once I realized that I could just shake the liars off my back and evict the dirty, dirty cheats from my mind, I knew I’d be okay. After working those three jobs for the better part of a year, the company thanked me by moving someone else into my role. So I moved, too. Three thousand miles across the country.
We’re gonna rise up
Did it hurt that I was passed over for a position I’d earned? Sure. And several years later, when it happened again, it would be My Shot, from Hamilton, pulling me through another impossible workplace humiliation.
So, here we are in 2024, and there’s still been plenty to get a person down, if you let it. I’ve been working non-stop on getting my book published. And let me tell you, if you’re a masochist, then sending off queries to literary agents is the game for you.
Out in the rest of the world, go figure, there’s lots more to get down about. We still have an inexhaustible quantity of dirty, dirty cheats and liars out there. But with every burden, every disadvantage, I’ve learned to manage.
Sure, they can cheat and lie and steal. Well, they can try to, anyway. But nobody’s gonna take away my shot. Not mine, not yours.
Just keep on cruisin’ and shake those suckers off.
Thanks for sharing that bit of encouragement! It’s only when people are willing to share their personal struggles that we are able to realize how much we all have in common. Your book rocks! Way to press on!