QFMFT

Thank you for this thread, you are a fantastic writer and every little bit of inspiration helps

sick thread. makes a very good read!!!

Incredible read. Thank you.

ads.

just caught this. Excellent read. I only wish I could do some of that stuff. Let us know when the book comes out. I would love a signed copy!!!

JZ

just finished chapitre deux, but don't wanna wait until the end to let you know how much i'm enjoying the reading, adsman. thanks for this.

To everyone who keeps bumping this, reading it and posting their thoughts and encouragments, I thank you. Writing a book is terribly hard work and you are all helping me a great deal.

Really enjoyed reading a wonderfully written story adsman

Wow Adam! I read your story within the past 2 days and i was just overwhelmed and stunned. Best of luck with finishing and publishing the book, will be a must buy for me.

Cheers, Jakob

simply amazing

You are an encouragement to many ppl who don't know what to do in their young life.

I just read this story and this is by far the best thing I EVER read on this forum. It's so inspirational and almost like a young boys dream come true.

I had a laugh when you came for the first time to London and enjoyed all the small things we take for granted. I once went to Nepal on vacation and after 1 week of hiking (having a bad stomache and kneeling for 5 minutes to take a dump every couple hours) I realized how lucky we were for having toilets.

When you publish your book I would definately like a signed copy, because this was an emotional rollercoaster for me. Thanks a lot!

wow, I just read this thing.
A fellow 2p2'er was a victim to my bantering about life tonight and he linked me to this thread.

It's almost 3am here in Norway and in approximately 3 hours I have to go to work, which is actually my last day at my current job.

I am now a 19 year old unemployed guy with a not-so-great education.
When I was doing my education I was right where I am now, every day just passing by with little to no meaning, I had bad grades cause I just coulden't focus on something I didn't really want to do and didn't see any reason to do.

I guess I was foolish and should've paid more attention, there is the option of doing more education to and ending up with a decent job.

Life is just filled with lame ass routines, it's like when you're born people are trying to feed you this script on how to do things and how to live.

I am also abit bummed because of this girl I kinda fell in love with, and it's unusual for me to fall in love.
I do not have any troubles with the ladies at all, I get my fair share, but high quality girls are hard to come by.
So I had seen her a few times, got along great and I know she liked me to.
But her ex ****-blocked me and in the end she decided to give him another shot.

Also on top of this poker isn't really going my way, and when you're losing everything, your job, a girl, no good education and everything just fails, things aren't that cool.

I'm even losing my friends, I mean once I finished school my social circle just got smaller and smaller until I was stuck with 2 friends that I hang out with on a regular basis, my best friends. One got his first girlfriend about 2 months ago, hurray for him, unfortuantly that means he doesen't have time for me anymore, the other one has become to much of a nerd who worships his computer above anything else.

So right now I'm only 19 and feel like I should be living out my best years of my life when I really haven't accomplished nothing in a few years and now it seems like I'm taking steps backwards.

It puts me on lifetilt for sure, I feel uneased and out of place, I take one step at a time, life minute for minute, but every day I keep thinking about what the **** I'm supposed to do with my life, cause I'm getting nowhere.

hey xBornToLosex, I feel the exact same thing as you. I'm also 19, but still enrolled in college. However, except for the social aspect the education feels like a waste. Useless stuff that will never be applicable in the real world. I don't want to settle into the same boring old routine of a steady job, or the same old routine but I want to travel and live an adventurous bachelor lifestyle till Im at least 25. However then we run into the problem of $$$ and not having any.

Just finished reading this. Awesome story! I backpacked around europe last october by myself and you really got me excited about going again... soon! I might come to Italy and try out rafting.

edit: I'm also a guitarist myself, do you still play actively?

Thanks for all the effort and time that you have put into this thread Adsman, I hope you are still finding the time and motivation to write. Because it is certainly a gift that you possess and it appears something which gives you at least some modicum of joy.

As a fellow perth boy it feels like this is very possible and the first step is always the hardest.

Let it be noted that this post was fueled by adsmans thread and also by having recently watched "into the wild"

This thread has come at the perfect time for me, a week after my 23rd birthday and a week away from graduating. At the moment it feels to me that I am kind of tied to the poker lifestyle. Even though I am graduating my intention was to continue playing online poker, which is the means through which I have been supporting myself for the last few years.

At the moment I am single, with no defendants and no responsibilities. I love the freedom and financial independence that poker allows me. But I know i am terrible at balancing my life. So much success in poker is derived either by natural talent or by obsession and more than likely by a combination of the two. By no means am I a world class player but have the ability and drive to make a huge amount of real world money. The only problem is that I feel, bored. Well perhaps bored is not really the right word for it. I feel stagnant, I feel that my life is a series of constant trade offs. It really seems like I am putting off any semblance of the adventure that I crave by some duty I feel to make as much money off poker as I can. The online poker world most definitely has a finite used by date and it strikes me as somewhat irresponsible to not work hard now and then bask in the fruits of that labour after the fact.

If I am really truthful with myself, I don't like the person that I have become. I used to love playing sport and taking part in outdoor activities. Including motocross riding, scuba-diving and just being outdoors. It just seems that the more time I spend behind a computer the more boring that I get and the more I feel trapped behind my computer. And the less time I really spend living my life.

Its really feels to me that I am at a giant crossroads in my life (so cliche, I know but forgive me its how i feel). On one hand I have poker and the monetary success and intellectual challenge that it brings and on the other the unknown, the travel and the amazing experiences out there and everything to do, see and live.

I would love to hear from people in similar situation, because I know I am not alone in these feelings. It just feels that the root of my problem lies in the fact that money has overtaken my priorities. Mainly because that is how score is kept within poker and to win you have to get the monies. Now every hour I spend away from poker feels like I am really loosing out. Wow that is depressing to write.

I just feels that I really want some adventure, travel and change but that money has made me soft and uninteresting.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I know its very bloggy and emo, also please understand its late and I apologize for grammar.

After thinking about it for a while I know my life is no where near as terrible as what it might seem like in this post. Im tired and had a pretty **** day. But I think that I am most definitely unsatisfied at the moment. I love poker and love most everything that it brings. But its like I almost feel trapped by the money and thinking in terms of "hourly rate".

Oki, many of us can relate. i think its a mistake for you to try to post the reply to try to lessen the significance of your orig post. if you are unhappy, really own it and be clear on what you are missing in your life. tolstoy quote:


It seldom happens that a man changes his life through his habitual reasoning. No matter how fully he may sense the new plans and aims revealed to him by reason, he continues to plod along in old paths until his life becomes frustrating and unbearable - he finally makes the change only when his usual life can no longer be tolerated.

Good post Oki-Oki. I'll be 23 in 23 days and I feel the same way you do to some extent. I'm only half way through getting my degree though which means I've probably been sitting even more by my computer than you have.

On the other hand - I still find travelling and outdoor activities fun. Probably more than ever actually. From my point of view poker is just means to an end. I no longer find it intellectually challenging though - so I'm just trying to save up as much money as possible so that I can do what I want to do in the future. And this sure as hell involves travelling.

I guess everyone is different but in my case I just feel like I get depressed when I spend too much time by my computer. And getting depressed in my case means playing horrible. Not mediocre - horrible. If there's nothing keeping you from playing bad but your personal pride - then you're in a really bad spot.

What I'm trying to say is that I think it's important to do a lot of other stuff besides just grinding 24/7. In my experience you're playing your best game when you are either strivíng to play higher games in the future or you're striving to subconsciously justify doing something else than what you SHOULD be doing (i.e. studying).
Again - this is just how I personally feel obviously.

I always play really well the semesters I'm in school - so naturally I get greedy and I want to be able to play more hours and take a break from school. Sweeeet - full time pokerplayer. But oh - this is boring. Now what?

So - next semester will be spent in school playing lots of poker!

Anyway - for me poker has been really valuable. Not just for the money but first and foremost for the insight about what life is all about. That is something I think you normally don't realize in my age if you're doing what you would be doing if it wasn't for poker. And that insight is priceless imo.




Adsman: thanks for the read. Amazing story!

Sorry about the structure of my post - my comma key doesn't work atm.

That Tolstoy quote was really interesting. I think it relates a lot to the quoted part from my post. By realizing what's important earlier than you otherwise would have and reaching the point at which your current life is no longer "bearable" you can actually start to make some changes.

Because of this thread I had to create a new bookmark folder titled Inspirational/life changing threads

really really good job

Thanks for the quote, really great in this situation.

I have identified alot of things that I was/am unhappy about and started to make the changes.

Also again thanks adsman this thread is pretty amazing.

That's an interesting idea. Maybe we're all getting our mid-life crises out of the way now?

We are lucky to have the freedom to pursue what we think will make us happy. Reminds me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs where most people are stuck worrying about jobs/money just to survive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs

anyone know of any actual books published with a story like ads ? About travelling and such ? I've reread this story so many times I can't wait until he finishes his book.