Throwback to my junior associate days in New York City!
I took pride in how I dressed.
The “uniform” was part of my growing up: learning what to wear where, when, and how.
A small kid in a big city, soaking it all in — the suits, the offices, the deals, the private dinners & dining rooms, the black cars, the lingo — bps! indemnities! LIBOR!
Slowly, then quickly, I got caught up hard in the vortex.
I had made it onto the Wall Street bull, but without the skills necessary to ride.
Skills like financial management, anxiety management, loneliness management.
I fell off the bull. Hard.
I came back home to California, and rebuilt my life.
I met my wife and got married.
I made studying those skills a priority, then a habit.
I made peace with myself. I loved myself again.
I wish for a day when all kids are taught basic life skills, at least as rigorously as they’re taught math & English.
Amen.
