11/15/2022
Welder wisdom....
Been awhile since I dropped one if these, I'm going to give fair warning it's gonna contain some colorful language. Yes that's not exactly professional but it keeps the context of what the real world is inside the working trades, and this is rooted in an actual conversation with some younger welders. To keep length within reason I'm going to just share the main focus of said discussion.
"To all you younger people out there that want to constantly cry about how hard life is. Guess what, it is hard. It's the complete and total s**t show you think it is. It'll wear your ass out faster than being the slowest horse in the Kentucky derby. Now that being said here's the gut punch of it all. Quit bitching and blaming previous generations for it. You have it no harder than any others that came before you. Period. Your parents struggled, their parents struggled and so on. Being a whine ass isn't productive so just knock it off already. Now I get it, we all have things we love to complain about. Inflation and the cost of living, housing markets, s**tty jobs and so on. Guess what, everything that's going on now has happened before. It's nothing new and dealing with it doesn't make you special. I know that's a hard truth to swallow, but it is what it is.
So what's the answer? Simple, work harder. Now before you all go getting your panties bunched up, stop and ask yourself exactly what working harder is. Is it putting in more hours in a bulls**t dead end low paying job with no growth? Or is it putting hours and effort into yourself, learning new things, skills and knowledge to make yourself more valuable? If you picked the first answer congratulations. You're officially the only reason why you'll never advance past where you are now. If you took the second then you got some work to do.
You see working harder isn't just about slaving away for someone else. It's investing in you. Building, learning, growing and understanding that pushing yourself to go outside of the bare minimum holds far more opportunities. Maybe that means you'll have less fun and live like a pauper for awhile. Possibly make some hard choices on where to put your time and money, and I don't just mean swapping out Pepsi for Big K either. Might just have to figure out how to make some opportunities happen for yourself and that alone can require some tremendous effort. Learn to go above and beyond for others but do the same for you.
Going into anything with the mindset of it's going to be impossible. It's too hard, I can't do it, poor me or any other excuse is just horses**t and cheating yourself out of chances to move forward. Yes it's going to be a challenge. Yes it's going to really suck at times. Yes it's going to be full of detours, potholes, speed bumps and setbacks. Things won't always happen in a straight line and you're going to stumble along the way. That's just life and it's been that way for all of us at some point.
So in basic terms pull your heads from your collective asses. Realize the universe doesn't owe you s**t. Come to terms with the fact you've only felt the tip of life's dick yet. Stop blaming others for all your situations. Most importantly, work harder. Not just for the benefit of your employer but for you. Set goals and work harder at making yourself what and who you need to be to achieve them. Nobody else can do it for you.
I'm sure I've managed to p**s off quite a few folks by now. That's ok, I'm expecting it. However do yourself a favor and really think about it before letting it chap your ass to badly. Good reason a doctor makes more than the guy making big macs. Effort in equals results out, argue it however you want it's still true. Now hopefully this little rant might light a spark in someone's mind and a fire under their ass. Million dollar dreams are never built with a minimum wage work ethic. Just be sure you make yourself the biggest investment you ever make.
Good luck young bloods and believe it or not this was typed with nothing but love. Caffeine fueled, anger filled, tougher than discount steak, grey bearded welder love. But still love, because us old hands really do want to see you succeed. We're just not here to sugarcoat it for you either. 😉
