Two of the focuses of my blog are Current Events and General Education. The Coronavirus/Covid-19 Crisis/Pandemic has adversely affected the educations of children across the world. Due to the pandemic, children have been forced in remote learning. Many parents/guardians have been unprepared for this change and have had to also adapt on the fly. The following contributed post is entitled, Top Ways to Support Your Child with Remote Learning.
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The coronavirus pandemic continues to get more serious, prompting closures of businesses and schools. Schools across the country have either ended the academic year or switched to online learning.
For many children, online learning is a new experience. Parents also have an extra burden, making sure their kids learn in the best environment.
Here are tips to help your child focus during distance learning:
#1: Create a designated learning space
Your child will work best in a comfortable, dedicated space that’s devoted to their studies. It can be their room, the living room, or the kitchen counter.
Talk to your child about where they’re the most comfortable studying. It may take some time for them to figure that out, so let them stay in different spaces until they find their designated study space.
Remove all distractions from your child’s learning area. Turn off the TV, limit their use of devices, and stow away their toys. Make sure they sit in a comfortable chair and give them easy access to school supplies. If they’re taking music lessons like piano, make sure the computer is accessible to the musical instrument.
#2: Set a schedule
Children work best when they maintain a routine. Figure out what’s the best time for them to learn. While some kids work best in the morning, others focus better in the afternoon or evening.
Once you’ve determined the best learning time, set a study schedule. Fit in breaks between study sessions so your kids can maintain focus. Encourage them to get up, go on walks, and move around, so they’re not sedentary.
#3: Encourage interaction
Your child will feel the effects of being away from friends. Aside from letting them talk on social media or text messaging, schedule a video playdate. You can speak to other parents to set up a video call so your kids can hang out with each other.
Stay in touch with fellow parents as well. Talk to them and share best practices on how your children learn. Ask if they need help as well.
#4: Stay in touch with the teachers
Maintain open, frequent communication with your child’s teachers. Doing so helps your kid stay on track with their learning. Reach out to the teachers if you or your child have questions and concerns about the mode of learning or a part in the lesson.
Don’t forget to share your kid’s successes. Talk to the teachers when your child reaches goals or makes positive changes. Your kid will appreciate the positive feedback not just from you but also from their teachers.
#5: Support your child’s behavioral and emotional needs
Set a reward system to motivate children to complete their work. Tell them they did a great job after completing a school day. Adding a checkmark or star sticker on their assignment also goes a long way into motivating your child.
It’s normal for your child to struggle with schoolwork. They are adjusting to the new normal, and they might experience anxiety and stress. Give them time to calm down and help them cope with their feelings.
The rapid closure of schools because of the coronavirus has forced children to change their study environment. Work with your child, fellow parents, and teachers to create the best environment for focusing and learning.
Three of the focuses of my blog are Current Events, Career Discussions and General Education. In the working world, the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Crisis/Pandemic has created an environment where some careers and jobs have risen to the forefront. Going forward, it behooves individuals to consider careers that will thrive under circumstances like these where the Coronavirus has decimated whole sectors. The following contributed post is entitled, Here Are The Careers To Consider In The Wake Of The Coronavirus.
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The coronavirus is going to have a massive impact on the world economy and evidence of this is already apparent. For instance, you might have heard that the unemployment rate in America right now is skyrocketing. Ultimately, this is going to lead to a massive flood of people entering the job market, once the furlough period ends. It’s important that if you are one of these individuals, you are pursuing the right careers. In this brave new world, certain careers are going to be in greater supply than others. So, let’s take a look at some examples.
Businesses are definitely going to be keen to hire employees who can work and operate from home. There are numerous examples of companies like this. For instance, you might want to create content for a living. If you are keen to do this, then a work from home position is great. You can get a strong income and ensure that you don’t have to worry about the Monday morning commute. Of course, certain businesses are likely to become more flexible about which workers they allow working from home. An example of this would be customer service businesses and call handling companies. With the right tech and the correct setup, there’s no reason why these people can’t work from home.
Tech Operations
As the world shifts to an economy where significantly more people are working from home, it’s going to be important to ensure that businesses can remain connected. This leaves another opportunity wide open and that’s any industry that is required to ensure that these connections can be set up the right way. For instance, if you are involved in setting up cloud servers, then you’re definitely going to be in high demand over the next few years. Businesses will be keen to ensure that they can send and access data and files without delay.
There are lots of opportunities for training on the market too. For instance, you can explore a solution like Flackbox. This will provide the right training you need to ensure that you’re a pro in this particular sector.
Logistics
Finally, it’s likely that there is going to be a higher demand for logistics businesses in the near future. So, whether you are setting up your own company or joining an existing business, this could be a fantastic opportunity. You just need to make sure that you are delivering a quality solution that your customers or clients can trust. Businesses failing to deliver a high standard are going to stick out like a sore thumb.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can take to ensure that your career is on the right track in the wake of the coronavirus. Remember, it may seem bleak right now but there are going to be job opportunities on the market. There are going to be positions that need to be filled. You just need to make sure that you are finding the right choice for you.
Two key focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and General Education. Some careers and jobs are more well suited for certain types of individuals. There some jobs that are well suited only for ‘tough’ individuals. The following contributed post is entitled, 5 Jobs For Tough People.
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To do some jobs well, you have to be tough. Whether you’re working in the public eye or handling difficult and emotionally-sensitive conversations, there are some roles you can only do if you’ve got thick skin and aren’t afraid to disagree with people. Here are five jobs for tough people you might want to consider if you’re feeling brave and looking for a career path to suit your personality.
1. Process Server A process server gives people sensitive legal documentation, like eviction notices, summons, subpoenas, and divorce decrees. They can also perform skip tracing to locate individuals that have ‘skipped town’ and undertake financial investigations. You have to be tough to succeed in this industry as let’s face it, people don’t enjoy receiving court summons or being tracked down. If you think you can do it, though, it’s a generally well-compensated way to enter the legal profession.
2. Mortician Being a mortician was ranked in the top three of the most challenging jobs in 2017. You have to work face to face with death every day while supporting the deceased’s family. The hours are long, and you’re in a dark room, but on the positive side, at least you get to give the person a proper send-off by cleaning, embalming and dressing them ahead of their funeral. You’ll also be making their family happy and providing dignity to the person who has died.
3. Roofer A roofer has to brave heights, scaffolding, and long periods of the year without work. If you’re a roofer by trade, you might find that you have to diversify over the winter months where work is scarce and could be canceled last minute. You also have to be prepared to walk over precarious surfaces and have to invest in many construction training courses to ensure you are safe and secure when working. It’s the perfect career for people that love working outdoors and aren’t afraid of heights.
4. Corrections (Correctional) Officer At a potentially over-crowded, understaffed prison, you’ll need to keep calm in a tension-fuelled environment while maintaining control of a prison population. Corrections officers consider the job challenging but rewarding, as they can help individuals improve their lives as part of their rehabilitation. The career path and daily tasks of Corrections (or Correctional) Officers depend on the type of prison you go into. As a career, it’s excellent for training and development as you gain firsthand experience of everything from conflict resolution to self-defense.
5. CEO As a CEO, you might be responsible for the morale and productivity of thousands of employees, as well as the company’s future as a whole. An unsuccessful CEO is often quickly identified and replaced, so the pressure is on to drive the company to success. Although you’re financially rewarded, the most stressful CEO positions are often considered as the heads of Finance, Tech, or FinTech giants. You also have to make unpopular decisions about company restructuring, as the only people above you are the board.
If you’re tough, one of these career paths may be for you. You might want to enter the legal profession or want a career that allows you to work outside, but choosing one of the above jobs might be the challenge that you need in your life.
Hello. Thank you for clicking on this link and I hope you enjoy this essay. Writing a book was the genesis of me blogging and becoming a video content creator. I am close to publishing part one of my book project entitled, The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Please consider visiting the page to learn more about the project and see promotional content I’ve created surrounding the project. And now on to our feature presentation.
Mother’s Day Blog Posts
Those of you who have read my content know that I’ve written blog posts for Mother’s Day since starting the Big Words Blog Site. As per usual, the links to my previous Mother’s Day pieces will be shared at the end of this piece. I thought of this piece, while driving back from New York State’s Capital Region as I was recently checking on my father. My Mom is quite cautious and wanted me to shelter in place as much as possible, but following her example, it was important for me to check on my old man during this Coronavirus/Covid-19 Crisis/Pandemic.
Before I get into the messages in this piece which I hope to keep short (by my standards), I want to tell any readers that while our country is looking to reopen shortly, and while infections by the Coronavirus are expected to fall off during the warm weather months, beware of a second wave. It’s predicted that when the cold winter months return, infections will as well. This blog post in some ways may in fact serve as a survival guide for some people who were unprepared for this first tsunami, and it may be helpful should there be future lockdowns and quarantines.
Important Health and Life Habits for the Pandemic
So in terms of Mother’s Day, as I drove back to Washington, DC recently, it occurred to me that my mother imparted some valuable nuggets in my life that helped me survive over the last two months since our country went into this lockdown. Among them are:
• The Ability to Cook: In previous Mother’s Day blog posts, I discussed the home that my mother created for us. A part of that was the meals she prepared for us, ALL of which were prepared with her hands from scratch. Her ability to cook along with my natural curiosity resulted in my ability to cook. I often jokingly tell people that at an early age, I was in the kitchen trying to figure out how she made those scrambled eggs. In addition to picking up recipes of all kinds over the years, from other people and from cookbooks like those from Emeril Lagasse, there are quite a few of Mom’s recipes that I took with me when I left the house. There are secrets that I’m still collecting today, such as most recently how to steam the green beans and onions with enough flavor and succulence at the time of consumption. I’m saying all of this to say that when the lockdown started, I already knew how to cook, so I didn’t severely feel the bite of not being able to eat out. The ability to prepare your own food is a critical skill and if there is in fact a lull in the infections, I would encourage people to learn how to prepare as much of your own food possible. Also learn to prepare healthy foods that you can eat for days at a time and even store for later. That said, I’ve learned that not everyone can eat leftovers, but we learned to do so. Finally, cooking at home also saves you money and stretches your dollars out time-wise.
• Personal Health: In addition to cooking, Mom was big on vitamins and even natural herbs and remedies. Likewise, as I was leaving Buffalo as our country was going deeper into the lockdown, she strongly encouraged me to start regularly taking Vitamin D which has therapeutic benefits for our immune systems. As I’ve been quarantining, I have in fact made Vitamin D a regular part of my daily diet and now Vitamin C as well. I shot videos on my science and technology YouTube channel about the benefits of both vitamins. Please check out those videos and my channel.
• Education, Writing and Building: I give my mother a lot of credit for the blogging platform you’re reading this post on right now. Both parents stressed education at an early age, but it was my mother who insisted that me and my brother learn how word process with proper form at an early age. We also had a computer in the house when we were young, so she saw the wave of the future coming in the early- to mid-1980s. Social distancing and quarantining isn’t natural for human beings and hasn’t always been pleasant at times, but I’ve been fortunate to be able to be keep myself busy and my mind occupied, writing and publishing content. Just as my mother was able to turn her writing abilities into a business, I have as well, which I’ll describe shortly via written content here on the Big Words Blog Site and on my Big Discussions76 YouTube channel.
• The Importance of Faith and Spirituality: Faith and spirituality can be a polarizing topic these days, but no matter how much you have or what you believe, it’s important to have it. Mom was always big on faith. When I go home to Buffalo, I try my best to get myself out of bed on Sunday mornings to attend her church’s services. Just before the lockdown set in, I was at home in Buffalo for two and a half weeks and I attended the last church service at the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Buffalo where the members, like most churches, were able to gather for the last time in a while. Before releasing the congregation, the Pastor read Psalm 91 to us, which was very, very powerful for what was taking place at the time. That scripture is now forever etched into my memory.
Closing Thoughts
So, as I have lots and lots to do, I’m going to stop this here. In the Black community we sometimes dwell on what we didn’t have when we were growing up . We can inevitably get caught looking at what our peers had within our community and in other ethnic groups/cultures. It’s natural in a way, but it’s also important to acknowledge what you were given from your parent or guardian. What did your mother teach that helped you through this challenging time? What might you use if this crisis or another one comes back around?
Oh by the way, fortunately I was able to craft this Mother’s Day blog post pretty quickly and concisely. Right on schedule, Father’s Day is coming up next month and I’ve thought of another really good money-related story involving my father and me which involves a very, very important lesson, so look for it. And in closing, Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there.
The Big Words LLC Newsletter
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at [email protected] . Best Regards.
Two of the focuses of my blog are General Education and Technology. While the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Pandemic/Crisis has created tremendous uncertainty for human health and our ways of life in general, it has also called into question the long-term education landscape. It’s been speculated that education will now move towards an increased digital paradigm. The following guest post is entitled, How the Future of Education May Develop Online.
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We have reached an age where advanced technology has become so deeply rooted in our daily lives and plays a major part in many of the core aspects of society. From recreation to work, everything is an amalgamation of celluloid, pixels, and wires. Another sector that has been steadily seeing its new face in technology is education.
These days, not only is tech integrated into lessons and curriculums, but it has also become a mode of learning in itself and a platform for teaching. From kindergarten to senior high school to post-graduate studies, online study has become the norm for millions of students in the new generation. This may beg the question, “is online schooling the future of education?”
The Virtual Shift
Learning toward different levels of education is available online, and some courses cater to shorter curriculums and specific topics alone. That is because, with the digital system, students have access to a vast library of different media and resources at their fingertips while being able to communicate with teachers and other students remotely.
Being able to share work in real-time and have hands-on activities also hasn’t been removed. Streaming platforms and cloud office applications have removed this limitation from students, no matter where they are as long as they have internet access. Even for those who aren’t in fully online schooling programs, data revealed that physical institutions are holding more and more online classes to cater to distance students. The same study even showed that over half of the students who still study on-campus also have at least one distance class they are taking.
As student sentiment gears toward the virtual space, institutions are also starting to put in resources toward making this work because it can be more cost-efficient and resolves a lot of the issues that come with having to go on-site. Operationally, this is beneficial as location no longer hinders potential enrollees and employees from joining a school. Both instructors and students can work remotely and no longer have to deal with commute issues, making the shift an attractive one in terms of finance and logistics.
Access Online
A major factor that is making online studying more lucrative is its accessibility. Different teaching and learning styles are catered to, and the flexibility in time allows people who have other obligations to be able to pursue an education.
One of the biggest things that also make it accessible is in terms of finances. Because the costs are different, you can often find an institution that offers online courses for a more affordable tuition fee. For this reason, different levels of financial status can still look into reliable schooling that is credited.
It can cater to those who live far, with barriers are removed and culture shock is lessened. For these reasons, it continues to grow each year as more and more individuals flock to the new educational sphere that they can pursue comfortably. With the recent health crisis in full boom, the world has mostly adopted this system and has seen its merits as people must continue to learn and go about their work from home. With all of those factors essentially making everybody shift to digital means, the future may just be up on a screen.
Two focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and General Education. There are many, many aspects to choosing a career and the amount of pay is just one of them. One’s overall level of happiness matters too and probably the most important factor. The following contributed post is entitled, Careers For People Whose Goal Is Maximum Happiness.
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A lot of people go into particular careers for money. But for some, that’s not the driving factor. Happiness is more important.
Commentators often link careers with stress and hardship. But you’d be surprised how many options there are out there that are great for your happiness. Not only do you get paid for doing honest work, but you also enjoy yourself at the same time. How many people do you know can say that?
Companies and individuals often hire professional researchers to look into a topic and produce a report that they can use to make decisions. Firms, for instance, might hire a freelance professional to investigate a historical document or develop a report on the future of their industry.
For those partaking in these careers, the financial and personal rewards can be enormous. Experienced researchers can earn hundreds of dollars per hour for their work. And many also love what they do, pushing boundaries and discovering new things that people didn’t know before.
Barber
Hairdressers and barbers have always been some of the happiest people. And who can blame them? After you finish barber school, you join a salon and spend all day chatting to customers about their lives. Most professionals learn a considerable amount throughout the day while cutting hair. Plus, there are ample opportunities for progression.
Authors
Becoming an author is a high-risk profession. A lot of people who go into it only earn a modest wage. With that said, you don’t become a writer for the money. You do it for the love of your craft. You go into it in the full knowledge that you probably won’t hit the big time. But that’s okay – you have the freedom to go wherever your creative spirit takes you.
Operating Engineers
Operating engineers are people who pilot vehicles like front-end loaders, bulldozers, and so on. Typically you find them on construction sites, doing all the heavy lifting. What’s more, these guys love their jobs. There is something deeply satisfying about taking control of a large vehicle and bending it to your will.
Psychologists
A lot of people find immense satisfaction in probing the workings of the mind and trying to figure out what makes it tick. Understanding your fellow human being can be a rewarding and exciting career path.
The main work of psychologists today is in diagnosing, characterizing, and treating diseases. In a sense, therefore, it is a kind of medical profession. You’re attempting to uncover psychological issues so that you can fix them.
Photographer
Photographers, like authors and composers, are artists. Their job is to find ways to best capture reality and present their snaps to their clients in a way that thrills them.
Photographers do all sorts of things. It’s not just weddings, but also landscapes, professional portraits, and family photos. Product photography is also growing. Businesses need people who can show off their wares in a flattering light.
“I think playing in Buffalo alone prepares you for the world, if you’re lucky enough to be able to grow up in the City of Buffalo!”
This interview is the second part of my interview with Buffalo basketball legend Damien Foster, the other half of the Buffalo Traditional dynamic duo from the 1990s. In part one we discussed his background, and the run he and his teammates went on at Buffalo Traditional High School in the early- to- mid 1990s in Western New York’s city league, the ‘Yale Cup’ and in postseason play. In part two we discussed his basketball career after Buffalo Traditional at the college level. The pictures in this post were shared courtesy of Damien himself and from an archive of Section V and Section VI basketball assembled over the years from issues of the Buffalo News and the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle by my first Coach at Hutch-Tech High School, Dr. Ken Jones.
Anwar Dunbar: So pretty much after your freshman year, you guys had ‘bullseyes’ on your backs (no pun intended). Everyone was looking for Buffalo Traditional, but were there teams you guys looked forward to playing? I know there was a ‘thriller’ against Bennett High School in your junior year. Adrian Baugh (pictured below in blue) posts about that sometimes on Facebook. Did you have that game circled? I know Bennett was supposed to be pretty good that year with players like Mike Carter and Monty Montgomery.
Damien Foster: Well, in our junior year we lost to those guys. I think we took them for granted. I have that tape and I watch that game. I watch a lot of the games. I’ve got all the games starting from my freshman year. We really weren’t focused on that game and we really didn’t have a game plan, so we really didn’t know what to expect. We knew they were good, but we felt like we were going to go in, beat them and take care of business. When the ball went up, those guys were focused! Mike Carter was focused! The infamous ‘spin move’ – everyone kept saying he was spinning to the hole. Mike was a big guy! He was a football player so once he got you on his hip, it was hard to contain him. So that game caught us off guard and it really sparked the rivalry between us and Bennett.
Losing that game in front of all those people – I want to say that there were 5,000 to 6,000 people at Erie Community College’s (ECC) gym at the time, it was very embarrassing. Those guys rubbed it in our faces, and it was one of those things like where you say, ‘Wow.’ They definitely had a bullseye on our calendar for next year. I was absolutely looking forward to that game and I couldn’t wait for it in my senior year. You could tell the difference between our junior and senior year – the focus was just so different. We were locked in my senior year. There was no way they were going to beat us again. Some of their players didn’t care for me – Monty Montgomery didn’t care for me. I didn’t care for him and that was a rivalry. It was what it was, but yes, that game for sure.
I looked forward to playing against Jeremiah Wilkes and Burgard High School (pictured). I also looked forward to playing against Kensington High School, which had Kilroy Jackson and Edmund Battle. You couldn’t just go into Kensington and be soft. Edmund Battle and those guys would talk crap to you and try to intimidate you. Me? I liked it because it got me going and those were the games I looked forward to playing – the big games against guys who talked crap – guys who thought they were tough. It was definitely Kensington, Burgard and Bennett. Those were the teams.
AD: Now, I might not put this in print, but did you and Monty have some kind of run in at a summer league?
DF: No. Monty moved here from California and he was on his California ‘swag’. He talked about how he was going to do this and do that. He looked at us like, ‘Who are these guys?’ I’m looking at him saying, ‘Numbers don’t lie!’ And there were some words that were said over the summer when he first got here. And then when they won the game in my junior year, they really ran with it so that’s kind of what got the fire underneath me for my team.
AD: Well they had a bit of a ‘reckoning’ when postseason play started because they got disqualified in the Class B bracket, while you guys went on to Glens Falls and then back again. Anyway, your best game, was it the final game where you got the MVP or was it something else?
DF: For me I would say it was the state championship final game in my senior year. My shooting percentage was pretty high. I scored more points in other games, but it was just more so the timing of when the points came because it was the state championship. I won the “Most Valuable Player Award” and that was huge.
AD: I also asked Jason this. I asked him about the last shot of games, and he said it was never a concern because your team were usually so far ahead of your opponents (laughing). In terms of the volume of shots, were you always able to find a balance?
DF: You’ve got two ‘A-type’ personalities, two ‘alpha-dogs’ out there – of course you’re going to bump heads a little bit. Me and Jay (pictured with Damien), we were close, so we knew how to work through it. It was never a concern about who would take the last shot because we were both comfortable with whoever shot the ball. If one of us ‘squared up’, both of us had a good chance of the shot going in. We both had great shots, so for me, I never had a problem with him taking the last shot and he never had a problem with me taking the last shot. It was more like just make it and get the win.
Our chemistry was always natural from our playing together at the Boys Club, learning the game together and coming up together. We were cut from the same cloth. Teammates are going to argue. You’re brothers and you’re around each other all the time – the locker room, practice, school. When we were on the court it was a family and it was all about taking care of business.
AD: Of your four years, was one your favorite or did you enjoy them all together?
DF: I enjoyed all four years, but my senior year was my favorite because we won everything. We won the Yale Cup, the states and the federation. It was just a great year. There was a lot of winning and when you’re winning, everybody is happy. You’re being remembered, you’re writing your legacy and you’re winning at the same time. It was my best year, but then you hate for it to come to an end because you know it’s your last year. The years go by so fast.
AD: With your team coming in together, was Jason your closest teammate? Or were you tight with some of the other guys?
DF: LaVar Frasier and I were close, and Damaon White and I were also close. Jason and I came up in the Boys Club and didn’t live too far from each other. I was probably closest with those two guys in my senior year, but again me and LaVar Frasier were close and are still close today (seated to the right below with Jimmy Birden and Adrian Baugh). We talk all the time.
AD: Was there anything you saw during your four years that surprised you? I know one of your teammates got murdered in your freshman year, Cameron Calvin.
DF: That was huge. We’d just won the Wilson Tournament. The bus dropped us off at the school and everyone went their own way. Some parents picked up teammates, while some guys caught the bus. I just remember getting a phone call the next morning from one of my teammates saying, ‘Man did you hear about what happened to Cameron?’ I said, ‘Cameron? Last night?’ They said he got shot and murdered and I couldn’t believe it. I felt like no way.
We were just playing together and it kind of haunted me. Growing up on the eastside you hear stories, but I’ve never experienced it with someone so close to me getting murdered like that. So that was very detrimental to the team and we rallied together and around his parents, his brother and sister. And we all wore No. 41 armbands in remembrance of him. We wore the black bands and with the black socks and we tried to mimic Michigan’s “Fab Five” back in the day. Everybody was doing it. That brought us together even more and we really became family when that happened.
AD: Yes, that was right before you guys played us (laughing). Academics kept a lot of Yale Cup players from playing beyond high school. What kind of student were you when you were at Buffalo Traditional?
DF: I was a B+ student. My grades were pretty good because it was instilled in me early on what a ‘student-athlete’ is supposed to be. My parents didn’t play with my grades. I was just inspired to play the great game of basketball. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to play if my grades slipped, just knowing that alone made me work even harder in the classroom. There was no way I wasn’t going to be eligible to play the game knowing what I had to do to set records. So, I never had a problem with school. I liked going to school.
AD: When did the colleges start recruiting you?
DF: The colleges started recruiting me my sophomore year.
AD: Wow.
DF: I started getting letters every day. It was pretty much from every school and conference in the country except for Duke. Those letters started coming in like crazy. A lot of that had to do with the fact that we were so active during the summer.
AD: Well, that was also before social media. Was that before or after you guys started playing big-time AAU or was it just word of mouth?
DF: It was after the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) stuff because you must remember that we started it after my freshman year. We were in France competing with their professional teams. We beat two of their pro teams, so every summer that was the regimen, AAU basketball and we were traveling. Mickey Walker was our Head Coach out of Syracuse, and it was called the “USDBL” which stood for the “Upstate Developmental Basketball League”. That was huge. Just being at the ABCD Camp, you’re playing in front of head coaches. Everybody was going to the Nike Camp, but ABCD was where it was at. You had all the head coaches in the stands and you’re playing against hundreds of other kids. That clearly helped with all the college recruiting and the letters, just getting your name out there and competing.
Don’t get me wrong. Here you’re doing good in the city, but you’ve got to play AAU ball. And like you said there was no Facebook, none of that internet stuff. This was real stuff. You had to be who you said you were (laughing)! You had to go out and prove yourself, drop some numbers and beat somebody.
DF: Yes, I signed my letter of intent for Boston College in 1996. We had a great team in my freshman year, and we won the Big East Championship.
AD: So, you were playing under Head Coach, Jim O’Brien. I’d gotten one of the Athlon Big East preseason books that year and remember seeing your picture. You were on the team with Danya Abrams right? – Keenan Jordan and those guys. Was James ‘Scoonie’ Penn on that team too?
DF: Yes, Scoonie Penn was on that team. That was my point guard! That was my boy!
AD: What made you choose Boston College and what did you major in?
DF: I wanted to play in the Big East Conference. Dave Spiller was an assistant at the time on Coach O’ Brien’s staff. He was from Buffalo. I also met Danya Abrams at an AAU tournament. I majored in Communications.
DF: I stayed at Boston College for two years and left after my second year. Jim O’ Brien left after my freshman year and went to Ohio State – he left on bad terms with the university. Danya Abrams, Keenan Jourdan and Stephen Thomas – all those guys were seniors when I was a freshman. We had a lot of seniors on that team, and Coach O’ Brien was trying to bring in some players to get it going. These guys he was trying to bring in were from Boston and were good guards and good players. They passed their SATs and everything, and the school ‘shut them down’. They basically told them that their high school curricula weren’t good enough. That was the second time they did that to O’ Brien’s recruits, so he was fed up with it. To make a long story short, he left the university and sued them. He took Scoonie Penn with him to Ohio State.
AD: Yes, I remember him leaving and Scoonie Penn transferring, but not all the legal stuff.
DF: He asked me if I wanted to go. I didn’t want to go because I played very limited minutes in my freshman year because we had so many seniors. I didn’t want to go and sit out a year. Everyone was leaving and I stayed.
Al Skinner came in from Rhode Island. He played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with Dr. J and all those guys. When he came in it was so late in the recruiting period. Everyone had signed their recruiting letters. He brought in about four guys who I think were going to Division II schools. There were five of us left from the previous year’s team. Antonio Granger and Dwayne Woodward were getting ready to be seniors and I was in my sophomore year. We also had Kostas Maglos who was from Greece. That five who were there was who started. It was my sophomore year and I remember we were in the Maui Invitational Tournament, because I ran into Duke’s Elton Brand in Hawaii and we talked about that game from my junior year (laughing) (see part one of this interview).
We were getting ready to match up with Arizona which was No. 1 in the country with Mike Bibby at the time. They’d just won the championship. Right before the game was going to start, Al Skinner came up to me and said, ‘Hey I’m going to start Kenny Harley in front of you this game. Just be ready to come off the bench and play!’ It was a last-minute change, so I said, ‘Wow, okay whatever.’ The game came and he never put me in the game at all (laughing). So, then everyone was wondering what was going on with me. You go from starting to not playing at all. I had no explanation and had to figure out what was going on.
From that point on it seemed like this guy just didn’t want to play me. I couldn’t understand it and I had to figure out what was going on. I figured Jim O’ Brien was suing the university and I was caught up in the mix. I was O’ Brien’s youngest recruit and the other guys were getting ready to graduate. I wasn’t Skinner’s recruit – I understand how the game goes. I realized that it was probably time for me to go. I sat down and talked to him after the season and we just weren’t getting anywhere. In terms of transferring, it was between Duquesne and Marquette, the University at Buffalo (UB) and Canisius. UB had just gone into a new conference that year.
The only reason I came home and went to UB was because I needed to get somewhere where I’d play immediately because I’d lost the time. So, I get to UB, sit out my first year and the next year I’m ready to go. I shook the rust off a little bit. I think I had 38 points against Manhattan. That was the game before the big North Carolina game. We had North Carolina at home. And then the same thing happens. There was just a whole bunch of nonsense going on behind the scenes with the team and the coach at the time, Coach Cohane.
DF: Some of the guys on the team didn’t like Cohane. He was a military guy and he kept it real. He’d let you know if he liked you or if he didn’t. I respected that about him. If you don’t want to play me, let me know so I can go someplace else. He just had that aura about him and some of the guys on the team didn’t really care for that. Believe it or not we had a talented team at UB. There were a couple of guys from New York City who came down with Coach Rock Eisenberg. He was helping Coach Cohane. Things basically went ‘left’. The players on the team said if Coach Cohane wasn’t fired before the North Carolina game, they weren’t playing. They were going to boycott that game.
AD: Wow.
DF: It was just beyond crazy to me and I didn’t know what was going on. They had an NCAA investigation going on at the time and they were investigating Coach Cohane about being in the gym. In the offseason, coaches are not allowed in the gym. They were trying to get down to the bottom of it regarding players seeing him in the gym. The NCAA sent its investigators to interrogate us. They brought us into these small rooms one by one to see if our stories matched up. I’d never seen Coach Cohane in the gym because I was too busy playing basketball. The other players’ stories didn’t go like that. They were making up stuff saying, ‘Yes, we saw him in the gym!’
There were only three of us who said we didn’t see him in the gym, and the NCAA came back and said, ‘We’re going to give you 24 hours to recant your story because it’s not lining up with the rest of the team! Basically, if you don’t change it, you could lose your scholarship!’ They said we could go to jail. They were really trying to intimidate us and extort information out of us. So, they interviewed me for a second time. I never changed my story and to make a long story short, the players boycotted the game and they ended up firing Coach Cohane before the game. They brought Reggie in right before the North Carolina game. He came in and that was a whole other story. So, I basically went through four college coaches in four years.
AD: Wow.
DF: And it hurt me a little bit.
AD: Well, yes, it hurts most players because you don’t have that continuity, and the new coach has a new way of doing things, and he’s probably going to bring in some of his own players. So, who was the last coach?
AD: I have one last question about Al Skinner. Was he basically trying to ‘clean house’ and wipe the slate clean?
DF: Basically. He brought in his own players and they were nowhere near my level skill-wise. You have a certain time period where you sign with Division I schools and then you have a time period where you can sign with Division II schools. These guys signed with Division II schools and at the last minute, he brought them with him to Boston College. It was one of those things where some of the players were asking me, ‘Yo. Why are you sitting down? Why are you not playing?’ When you’ve got your teammates asking those questions, something isn’t right. So, I guess it was just a political thing.
He just didn’t want to play me. I just wasn’t his recruit. I didn’t understand it, but I had to understand how that political game was being played. Again, O’ Brien was suing the university and I was his recruit. He was at war with Boston College and I was still there. It was the same thing at UB. Cohane sued UB and the NCAA. We recently lost the lawsuit against the NCAA a few years back. My name is on affidavits and all kinds of crap. What they did to him wasn’t right. It was crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that. The NCAA is an institution and you’re not going to win against them (laughing). I think Jerry Tarkanian, “Tark the Shark” from UNLV, he had a lawsuit against them too. No one wins against them (laughing).
AD: Well, that’s interesting. I never knew all of that happened. I remember Jim O’ Brien going to Ohio State and Scoonie Penn following him to Columbus. And then they had Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd in the backcourt, but I never knew all of that happened and –.
DF: In hindsight, looking back maybe I should’ve left because it would’ve been me, Scoonie Penn and Michael Redd. I thought I was making the right decision by staying and –.
AD: Well, you also think that when you’re going to a school, you’re going to be there for the next four years playing for that particular coach for the entire time and –.
DF: Oh yeah, absolutely. That’s the reason you sign up and that’s why you’re there – because of that coaching staff. You say, ‘I’m here for four years with you guys!’. That’s not always the case. I had four different coaches in four years (laughing). That was crazy.
AD: Did your team ever come close to winning the conference tournament and making the NCAA Tournament?
DF: Not at UB. Like I said, we had a very talented team, and when that coaching change happened that was Reggie’s first run with a Division I school, so he was learning. He was learning how to maneuver and practice, and it just wasn’t there for him at that time. He couldn’t relate to players and players didn’t like him. I’d known Reggie since I was in the seventh grade.
He had an AAU team called ‘Ace’. Ryan Cochrane played on his team and I think Jason played a couple of times with his team. Reggie was a workaholic. He was going to work you, and if you didn’t have that mindset to come to work and be ready to run, you might get a little frustrated. A lot of the players didn’t know that about him, so they didn’t know what they were in for.
They got Cohane out and now they’ve got Reggie, and he’s running them like dogs – even before he introduced himself to them. They didn’t take that too well. It definitely rubbed off on the court in terms of winning. We weren’t on the same page, so we won some games, but no tournaments. When I was at Boston College in the NCAA Tournament, we went out to Utah and lost in the second round. We also went to the Big East Championship in my freshman year – I’ve got a championship ring from that. But Reggie literally went from coaching at ECC to coaching us at UB in the North Carolina game.
DF: In addition to me, we had Lou Campbell, Theory Harris, Davis Lawrence, Maliso Libomi, who was from France and we had Nikolai Alexeev and Alexei Vasiliev (our point guard) who were from Russia. We had a talented team. We could’ve beaten North Carolina. Reggie decided to play everybody on the bench down to the last man. The rotation just wasn’t there. Again, you’re not coaching at ECC anymore, you’re coaching at a Division I school. I was blown away by some of the stuff that I saw, but it was a learning experience. If you let it some of it would deter you.
AD: Was that one of Antawn Jamison’s North Carolina teams? Or was that one of Joseph Forte and Brendan Haywood’s team?
DF: We played against Joseph Forte in my senior year. We played them twice.
AD: What did you do after college? Did you play any professional basketball like Jason or Tim Winn?
DF: I had a tryout with Cleveland. They told me to come up for free agency camp. I came up. They took too many players in the draft, so they cancelled the camp (laughing). I also got an offer from Israel. I want to say that Trevor Ruffin was over there playing at the time. I got with an agent and signed, and it was just bad over there at the time with the wars and the fighting over the land. I want to say that Trevor was on his way back – I think he was literally at the embassy. I just didn’t feel like the money was worth it – what I was signing for at the time, so I didn’t go over to Israel and I started doing real estate from there.
AD: Damien, it sounds like you guys were relentless with your development. For any youngster who wants to play basketball, what would you tell them?
DF: The game has evolved so much since I played. These guys have got all the tools available to them – a lot of stuff. They have online tutorials, videos – when I was –.
DF: Yes, they’ve got personal trainers and they’ve got a lot of stuff that’s available to them. My advice to the youth is to just develop a good work habit. Develop great work habits all season and away from the court. Work on your game every day and you’ve just got to push yourself. You’ve got to practice and play when nobody else is. That’s just how it goes. I believe in the old-fashioned road work, so you get up in the morning at 5 am. At 6 am you’re running while the air is thin – you get your laps in. You’re putting up 500 shots a day. At the Boys Club, we would shoot at least 500 a day. You just have to work and build your confidence. Confidence is the key! Basketball is about confidence! Just be relentless and make up your mind about your goals. Set goals and if you work to achieve your goals daily, you’ll be fine. You’ll be good!
AD: You and Jason made it beyond Buffalo Traditional and the Yale Cup. There were a lot of players who didn’t make it though. In terms of facilities and budget, the Yale Cup underfunded and a lot of players didn’t make it to the next level. Do you have any thoughts on the old Yale Cup? You guys won most of the time (laughing), but do you have any thoughts looking back on how the league could’ve been better?
DF: Well, my understanding back in the day is that the Yale Cup didn’t even have the three-point line (laughing). Curtis Aiken (of Bennett) and those guys played when there was no three-point line. You play in some of the gyms in some of these schools and it was like you were playing in a bowling alley –.
AD: Like South Park or Performing Arts (laughing).
DF: With a track above it – yes, South Park. Today it has changed a little bit from that, but the city schools could always use a boost. I hate the fact that they shut Buffalo Traditional down – that’s a whole other thing.
DF: They’re redoing the gyms in some of the schools. It’s good because our kids need that. They need to have the best stuff. You walk into the suburban schools and they had the best of the best.
AD: Yes, those schools had three large gyms. They had ‘Modified’ teams and Junior Varsity teams at every school, state of the art weight rooms, a track out back. And that’s a testament to how good you guys were to have accomplished what you accomplished without all those things.
DF: Yes, I think it was just coming from where we came from, our backgrounds and just wanting it. We wanted it! I know I did, and I wanted it bad. Just growing up in a single parent home, you want so much for your Mom. It was one of those things where I felt like I was going to do everything. I was going to be the man of the house. I’m going to do everything for my Mom! You deal with what you deal with. You try to make the best out of it, and you try to make it work for you. A lot of our games were played at ECC because of the schools we were going into. Our gym at Buffalo Traditional didn’t have the corner line, and everybody was coming to our games, so they had to be at ECC. You just must push through.
AD: And when those game were at ECC, did they push them to the nighttime?
DF: Yes, they were night games.
AD: That makes a big difference, because most of our games in the Yale Cup were right after school. So, you didn’t have a lot of time to get your head right. In the private and suburban schools, their games were at nighttime. Okay, last question. What did playing at Traditional and in college teach you about life and success?
DF: Ah, man, it’s the perfect parody to life. It teaches you discipline. For me, it taught me that in all your endeavors in life, you must know how to deal with them. You’re going to have to deal with problems in life and just being an athlete, it makes you see things differently. I’ll put it that way. You know how to deal with certain things when life gets hard. Life starts being overbearing or overplaying you, so you sort of have to go ‘back door’. It’s the same thing on the court. Especially playing in Buffalo. I think playing in Buffalo alone prepares you for the world. If you’re lucky enough to be able to grow up in the city of Buffalo –.
AD: Really? I’ve never heard that before (laughing). What do you mean by that?
DF: I think Buffalo gives you the tools to go out into the real world and compete.
AD: Interesting!
DF: You know, it’s just the grime and grit here. Whether it’s the snow, it’s Buffalo. If you can make it here and make a name for yourself, I think you’ll go out in the world and you’re ready! I truly honestly believe that. Buffalo prepares you for everything in the world and you’ll definitely know how to go out and handle yourself. You have no choice. You almost have no choice growing up here. I’m speaking about growing up in the city.
AD: Well, Damien. That’s pretty much all I’ve got. I think I asked Jason this as well, but once you guys got to a certain point, did you focus solely on basketball? No football or other sports?
DF: I was never a two-sport athlete. We talked about football because we played pole to pole. But we talked about it and we didn’t want to get hurt. The basketball season was after football season and we didn’t want to mess that up trying to play football, so that was never my thing. I got asked to play football when I was at Boston College. Matt Hasselback was the quarterback at Boston College at the time and –.
AD: Oh really?
DF: He needed some wide receivers, so he said, ‘Just come out for the team! I need a receiver! You’re tall! You’re fast!’ I’m looking at him and saying, ‘Are you crazy? You want me to play Division I Football?’ If you’re going to do that, you’re going to have to do it from little league (laughing).
AD: That’s right.
DF: That never was my thing. I told Matt that they would tear my little skinny butt up (laughing)! That was interesting. He asked me, but nah, I couldn’t do that.
AD: You said something about being one of the top 50 players in the country, but not ‘All-Western New York’ your junior year. Is that true?
DF: I got an invitation to the ABCD Camp in my junior year. They wrote up an article in the paper saying that I was one of the top 50 juniors in the country (see the caption above). The ABCD Camp was for the top 100 players in the country! I’ve got the letter which Coach Cardinal signed. I’ve still got it in my scrapbook. So, it’s like my junior year I went to ABCD Camp, I was killing the Yale Cup and the numbers were there. I didn’t make the All-Western New York First Team (see picture below). I couldn’t believe it and I said, ‘Wait a minute!’
The rumor was that they couldn’t have an all-black All-Western New York First Team. They weren’t ready for that, so they had to have some white faces on the team. I just didn’t see myself not making the All-Western New York First Team my junior year. I made it in my senior season. But how are you top 50 in the country where you get invited to play with Kobe Bryant and all these guys and you don’t even make the All-Western New York First Team?
AD: Yes, that doesn’t make any sense.
DF: Because if you look at the team my senior year, it’s all-black (laughing). I get it. I totally get though. It’s Buffalo!
AD: What are you doing now?
DF: I’m in real estate on the investment side and I’ve been doing it for the last 12-13 years.
AD: Are you ‘holding’ them or are you flipping them?
DF: I pretty much buy and rent them. I’ll sell if needed, but I’ll buy and rent for the long-term. I sold one last year. I got lucky. I bought when the recession hit so I was able to stack them then. I’m glad that I did because now the Buffalo market is through the roof. My older brother was doing it when I was in high school, so I learned from him and from my other brother in Detroit. That was one of the other reasons I didn’t pursue playing basketball overseas as much. My goal was to get to the NBA. You can make a living playing overseas, but the first house I got paid off for me, so I did that.
To me there’s a fine line in any sport in terms how long you play, and a lot of athletes get caught up chasing it for the rest of their lives. And each athlete is different. It works for some and doesn’t work for others. I didn’t want to be that guy who was chasing it, chasing it, and chasing it and then would have to look around and try to be a regular civilian (laughing). Who is going to hire you at 30 or 40 you know? I saw lots of athletes get caught up that way, and I just never wanted to be that guy. The decision was easy for me, so I just did real estate.
AD: Well, I’ll you what Damien. I’m going to transcribe this, but money is something I’m also passionate about. I write about it and I record videos about in on my YouTube channel, Big Discussions76, so if you would like to come on at some point, I’m sure that a lot of the Buffalo folks around the country would be interested in it. And I think it’s something that our people need to get more involved in, the investing side.
DF: Yes, we need more black ownership. Especially in Buffalo.
AD: Well, Damien, thank you again, and I really appreciate your willingness to talk about your life and playing days. Whether you know it or not, you are royalty, at least as far as I’m concerned. What you guys did at Buffalo Traditional was big and in your successes you touched a lot of lives – not just at Buffalo Traditional, but also for the rest of us at the other schools – seeing that those types of things could be done and giving everyone else something to shoot for. It was something for the entire area to be proud of – to say that you were there, and that you played against Damien Foster and Jason Rowe, and the Buffalo Traditional Bulls.
DF: No problem.
The Big Words LLC Newsletter
For the next phase of my writing journey, I’m starting a monthly newsletter for my writing and video content creation company, the Big Words LLC. In it, I plan to share inspirational words, pieces from this blog and my first blog, and select videos from my four YouTube channels. Finally, I will share updates for my book project The Engineers: A Western New York Basketball Story. Your personal information and privacy will be protected. Click this link and register using the sign-up button at the bottom of the announcement. If there is some issue signing up using the link provided, you can also email me at [email protected] . Best Regards.
Three focuses of my blog are Current Events, General Education and Professional Skills/Development. Sometimes there are blessings in disguise. While the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Pandemic/Crisis has forced a nationwide lockdown, it has inadvertently created spare time for vast numbers of people. If the time is used wisely to learn new things for example, you can come out of this crisis better off on the other side. The following contributed post is entitled, Use the Lockdown to Help Expand Your Knowledge, and to Learn and Improve.
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During the lockdown, many people are finding themselves off work for the foreseeable future. Now, this can be tough, but it is also a great opportunity to be able to learn more and improve your knowledge and skill set. This is something you are going to need to get right as much as you can, so try to make the most of this moving forward, and come up with ideas that are going to help you in this regard.
You have plenty of free time here, and it is important to make sure you use it as best you can. There are a lot of options you need to consider here, and it makes sense to use this time wisely to work on improving what you know and trying to learn more in the process. So, here are some of the ideas and tips you can use to help you expand your knowledge and improve your life in the process right now.
There are a lot of things you can do to help pass the time during this lockdown, and this is something to think about. Learning a new language can do a lot to help you improve your brain power, increase your skills, and give you fresh cultural experiences. There are so many things you can use online, just like this tutorial on how to learn German, to help you learn a new language, and this would be a great way of passing the time during the lockdown process. Make sure you focus on doing as much as possible to learn a new language wholly and enjoy the benefits this can bring.
Find Out New Things
Make sure you do as much as possible to try to find out new things and use the internet as the ultimate resource for this. There is so much information out there, and no matter how obscure it might be, this is a great way of learning about the world and finding out new things. Whether you’re wanting to know about the trend in the lattice energies, or you’re thinking of learning about history once again, there are so many opportunities.
Master Something
It has often been claimed that it takes around 10,000 hours to master something, and this is a good challenge for you. Of course, nobody is expecting you to complete a full 10,000 hours of practice at something right away. However, this is something that you need can certainly make some headway into during the lockdown process. There are a lot of things to think about here, and choosing what you are going to attempt to master is something that deserves some thought and consideration. And you might like to uncover the benefits of using articulated speech as much as possible.
Read More
Reading is something we never seem to do enough of, and this is the perfect opportunity to be able to read more and expand your knowledge in the process. Whether it’s in paperback, hardback, or digital form, the lockdown has certainly freed up enough time to read more and discover new worlds and adventures as a result.
As you can see, there are a lot of things you can do to improve your knowledge and boost your skills during the lockdown process. This is something you are going to have to make the most of right now, and it is something you should certainly consider. There are a lot of elements that you are going to need to keep in mind here, and learning and improving can certainly enrich your life in the process.
Three focuses of my blog are Career Discussions, General Education and Professional Development/Skills. From the time we start our education to the time we retire, we’re always thinking about our improving our career prospects. Some of this involves formal education while other parts involve the cultivation of things like soft skills and then mentoring as well. The following contributed post is entitled, How To Improve Your Career Prospects.
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There can so easily come a point in which you no longer feel comfortable with the employment that you are able to gain, whether this be down to the lack of responsibility or a low level of challenge that you are currently offered. Luckily, improving your job prospects needn’t be as difficult as you might think, as there are several different simple steps that you can follow which will help you to meet your employment goals in no time at all. So, if you want to find out more, then read on to uncover some of the best top tips and tricks that you can make the most of today!
One of the best things that you can do to improve your career is to head back to school to gain some extra qualifications. Doing something like this shows that you are committed to improving yourself, as well as increasing your skills and experience at the same time. There are so many different courses on offer which can fit around every lifestyle, from those which are full time on campus to those which are wholly online offering far more flexibility. Finding the right course for you can allow you to succeed in your quests, as it’s important that you can meet your goals and utilise the opportunity to advance your career. Making the most of your course is simple – ensure that you invest in all of the right equipment and resources such as GMAT prep books and a high quality laptop, and always try to commit yourself wholeheartedly to each project that you complete. The higher the grade you achieve, the higher your chances of gaining a much better job.
Present Yourself Properly
It’s absolutely vital that you are able to present yourself properly whenever you head out to a meeting, interview, or conference, as the first impression that you give off is often the most important contributing factor during any professional event. If you arrive to an interview wearing casual clothes (jeans, untucked shirts, even creased or dirty clothing) you are telling your potential employer that you simply are not taking the experience seriously; whereas making an effort to invest in professional clothing such as a suit with a tie will show that you have put thought into your outfit to give off the best impression. Body language is also a very essential feature, as even the smartest clothing will not cover up a negative aura. You must be confident and hold your head high, rather than slump down and hide yourself – self assurance is a key attribute for those of you who are searching for advanced managerial roles with more responsibility.
Improving your career prospects has never been so simple when you are able to make the most of the top tips and tricks detailed above! Start off by researching some extra qualifications that can fit around your current schedule, and always remember to make an effort to present yourself in a professional and confident manner.
Two of the of the focuses of my blog are Career Discussions and General Education. When launching a career, there are instances where we burn out and seek a change of some sort. Many people don’t know how to adjust once that time comes. The following contributed post is entitled, Here are some of the Top Signs that it is Time for a Career Change.
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It’s not always easy to find a new job to say the least, but the whole concept can become even more challenging when you actually want to change the career path you are on. If you aren’t sure if you need to change your career or not, then here are some tips that will help you out.
Body Breakdown
If you feel drained and tired at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day then this would indicate that it is time for you to make a change. You may feel as though all you want to do in the evenings is flop, and that you dread the day ahead. Another sign is if you feel as though you are getting sick more often and that you feel cold all the time. The physical signs of not being happy really are obvious when you know what to look for.
Busy Brain
Everyone gets Sunday blues from time to time, but if you feel as though the whole cycle is just never-ending then this would indicate that now is the time for you to make a change. You may find that your thoughts are exhausting you and that you always wake up in the middle of the night and dread looking at your alarm clock. Believe it or not, this isn’t normal and it is a sign that something needs to change. If you don’t act soon enough then you may find that things only get worse and this is the last thing that you need.
You may even start to wonder if the problem is you. If you feel as though you don’t fit into your place of work then you may feel awkward and even uncomfortable at times. It may even get to the point where you don’t feel as though you are doing as good a job as you could be doing, and over time, this will wear you down. If this sounds like you then you need to make a change, and fast. If you don’t then you may find that things get even worse over time and that you also struggle in the long-term.
Money Issues
You may tell yourself time and time again that if it wasn’t for the money, you would have left by now. Sure, the paycheck might pay the bills and you might even have responsibilities too, but at the end of the day, you also need to make sure that you are concentrating on your own happiness. If you don’t then you may find that you end up being miserable for most of your life. You have to remember that if you do make the decision to go for a new career, you might end up with even more money as a result, so it’s worth exploring your options right now. You don’t even need to tell your boss that you are thinking about leaving either, so just look around and see what is available to you. You can even train for another role if you want. Click here if you want to try and get into a trade.
Don’t Self-Medicate
Self-medicating can include buying more than you need, buying an extra round at the bar or even watching an extra episode of a TV show. It’s a way of making yourself feel better when you just don’t feel like dealing with whatever lies ahead. This is a normal way of dealing with things sometimes, but if you find yourself doing it far more often than you should then this can really be bad for your health. If you want to stop this from happening, then you need to deal with the situation at its source. You need to make sure that you stop finding ways around it and that you also really take the time to find out what is making you so unhappy. If it is your job, then you know what to do.
You Don’t Like to Talk about your Career
Whenever you go to a party, you may dread the question “what do you do?”. This shouldn’t be the case. You should be proud of what you do and you should also be happy to talk about it with other people as well. If you don’t feel as though this is the case, then now would be the time for you to try and make a change if you can. If you do, then you will soon have the confidence you need to feel happier about yourself in general.
