2020 No Looking Back

2020 is off and running and I am already trying to catch up.  Being sick at the end of  December did not help much either.  I titled this post "2020 No Looking Back" because this past decade was filled with pain and growth.  For every achievement, I made it was met with an equally painful situation.  I was able to graduate both with my Bachelors's and Masters's degrees and was able to obtain my CCNA and my CISSP.  I also ended my marriage, suffered through some rough personal times through it all.  I am not where I thought nor wanted to be, I had a grand plan to already be in the Cybersecurity arena by the time I was 30 and well entrenched in it by my 35th birthday.  This was to assist in preparing me for my children's future as well as my own.  In a couple of months, I will be turning 35 and just entering the cybersecurity arena as a practitioner and not just a lurker.  Not quite the plan I had envisioned as I approached my 30th.

I had my review about a month back and my director, who I have been working with now for 14 years, had an observation.  He mentioned to me that despite all the headway I have made in my career I seem to still be stuck when it comes to my personal life and relationships.  It got me thinking what has happened to me and the young gentleman who had all these ideas and plans? Like everything I do, I gave too much of myself and put others in front of my well being, my career and my mental health. 

I have been thinking a lot lately about what I am going to do to ensure I catch up and position myself to succeed both in my career and personally.  One thing is I am going to commit to learning more and working on the tech skills that I am weak in.  That process has started as evidenced by the posts I have made regarding the different programs and things I am learning.  The next is I am going to be more active in social media and reading different articles and news in cybersecurity.  I know I will not be the first to tweet it or put it on LinkedIn or even Facebook but I want to get in the habit of showing that I am active in reading and commenting on things in the industry.  I am planning on expanding my network by attending more events as well as volunteering and teaching which has always been a passion of mine.  I believe that these are the building blocks I need to catch up and position myself to be where I should be by my own standards.

The is no looking back and while I will carry the wounds from the past decade I will wear them as scars of war.  I have learned a lot and I am still learning about myself and what limits I have that I need to break.  I look forward to sharing my experiences with you as I go and I hope those that are coming behind me will be able to learn something from the mistakes I have made.