2016 has been extremely overwhelming so far. So overwhelming that I strongly considered taking a hiatus from the Self Employed Movement.

I went into 2016 expecting to quit my job and become self-employed by the end of the year.

My first hustle was well underway. I was selling old motorcycle parts on eBay and I gave myself a nice 10% “bonus” without much work.

I sold through most of my inventory and I was picking up momentum.

This was the first step that I was implementing to get myself closer to self-employment. My profits were going to be my seed money for more sustainable hustles.

I was going to write about that…and some other ideas…

But then shit hit the fan.

So what’s this super secret thing that’s been going on with me?

It’s a long story but this will sum it up:

My wife and I are selling our house, my parents are selling their house, and we’re buying another house for all of us to live together. Oh yeah, and we have to accomplish all of this before April when my wife and I are going to Germany to visit my family.

Go!

No longer was eBay a priority. No longer was the Self Employed Movement. No longer was becoming self-employed.

Getting approved for a mortgage, getting our house prepared to be shown, looking for a new house that we could all live in harmony, prepping my parents house to be sold, and moving 2 households were top priority now.

They were the only priority.

This was not something that was easy to comprehend.

My wife and I recently celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary and we’ve only been in our house for a little over a year.

This was our first home. This is where our story started. This is where it was supposed to continue.

We had plans for our home; we had plans for our lives.

But those weren’t going to happen.

Life now has other plans for us.

I’m technically moving back in with my parents and my wife is coming with me. She didn’t ask for this. It all seemed unfair.

And overwhelming. Man, oh man is it overwhelming.

Sleep has been restless. “Free” time has been spent laying mulch. Money has been spent on new flooring, updating our pond, and little things here and there that we weren’t exactly planning on doing here and now. My wife’s right eye hasn’t stopped twitching.

Work has become more stressful for both of us right around the same time.

I got a new manager who feels like she has something to prove and has plans to whip us into shape.

I got more responsibilities but no increase in pay.

We’ve both been dealing with corporate bullshit and politics.

Everything has hit us all at once.

It seems unfair.

I’ve been dealing with so many emotions while trying to make sense of it.

But now, some progress has been made and I can finally see the light.

Like Winston Churchill once said, “if you’re going through Hell, keep on going.”

I’ve come to realize that this predicament I find myself in isn’t so bad after all. In fact, it’ll probably help speed up my path to self-employment.

Hell yeah!

Instead of viewing this as something that’s unfair and a burden, I now see it as a positive experience in my life.

I’ve come to realize that I have an amazing woman by my side for the rest of my life as long as I don’t screw it up. (Hi honey, I know you’re reading this!)

When we first started thinking about this she said, “You know what? It does suck and it is unfair but I know that I couldn’t live with myself if I knew there was something we could do to help out your parents but we didn’t do it. It’ll all be alright.”

Ladies and gentleman, I’ve found a keeper.

To ask this of my newly married wife is a lot but she’s handling it like a champ.

I’m very fortunate to be in this position where my wife is willing to help out my parents and that we’re able financially to help them out.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to help my parents like this. I’m fortunate enough that we’re essentially giving them the opportunity to actually retire someday.

They’re some of the hardest working, selfless people that I know and to be able to do something like this for them is incredible.

Combining two households will take some adjusting but it’ll help everyone out in the long run.

All parties involved will be able to save a significant amount of money by having one mortgage instead of two and everything else that is associated with it.

My dad’s income will now essentially be all savings.

There will be less stress on me to stay in my dead end job which makes me miserable.

There will be less stress on my planned side hustles to make enough money to pay our bills and sustain our way of life as soon as possible. They now have time to run their course and gain traction and support organically.

I won’t have to choose between writing on the Self Employed Movement or working on a hustle. I’ll eventually have more time. And time is everything.

I recently started Habermann & Sons with my dad and it’ll be easier for that project to grow now that we’ll be living in the same place.

My mom has a business of her own and it’ll be easier to help her out now as well.

You can’t necessarily control what happens to you but you have full control as to how you react.

And I plan on making the most out of this.

How would you react if this happened to you?

* * *

In other news, I got this book the other day:

And it’s awesome! I’ve recommended Chris’s books in the past and this one comes highly recommended as well. I’ve only read half of it so far but it’s already helped me out on my path to becoming self-employed. If you’ve gotten anything out of my past recommendations of his, definitely check out Born for This. Pre-order on Amazon here.

(Full disclosure: I get nothing if you click on the link and order the book.)