On the Rebound: He Lost His Girl, but Gained the Whole World

By Susan K. Maciak and William P. Ellermets

On the Rebound is a joint project of two Michigan-based consulting firms, Battle of the Gains LLC and CAMEO Career & Corporate Consulting LLC. The story was developed to show young adults that its possible to rebound from losses no matter how devastating they may seem to be at the time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 8, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984525321

Susan K. Maciak

Maciak was named an “Innovator to Watch” by Michigan Gov. John Engler. She earned the award for developing comprehensive, creative career programs that influenced thousands of high school and college students of diverse academic, cultural and economic backgrounds. Maciak has also been recognized for her work in school public relations, including projects she developed for the Michigan Association of School Boards. Today, Maciak provides career coaching, employee training, human resource development and corporate communications services through her own company, Cameo Career & Corporate Consulting LLC (www.cameocareer.com).

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

What Do I Want, Anyway?

A WESOME! I FINALLY get some space! To pay for apartment life while trying to finish college, I work my wretched butt off 80 hours a week or more. That doesn’t include any overtime pay, either. I hold down three or four part-time jobs just to stay afloat. Besides serving food and supervising gyms, I paint stripes on roads. You know what I mean – those yellow and white lines on major highways that keep you in your lane.

It’s not that I don’t like working, but I badly need a break. Usually, it takes a patch of black ice, a layer of fog or a foot of winter snow to close down everything in the Midwest. Today, in the middle of August, though, torrential rains turned my regular work routine into one of Mother Nature’s nice surprises: A rare Rain Day. You can’t paint roads when it’s pouring, so I’m a free man for at least eight hours. Booyah!

My girlfriend is out of the picture now, so how did I spend my big bonus day? First, I planned a thrift-store shopping spree with my biological brothers. All three of us decided to hit a few second-hand shops in search of sports memorabilia. Whenever we find something useful or totally cool for a buck or two, we flip it to friends for as much as $20, not a bad profit.

If we’re really fortunate, we land some genuine goodies, like a tossed out program from the Chicago Cubs’ World Series, or an old photo of a hockey fan hugging a Stanley Cup. Collectibles like those sell for even more. We had hoped to hit the jackpot today, but no such luck.

Dejected, the three of us moved on to the YMCA to work out. After a few hours of sweat, then squaring our standard bet on who could pump the most iron, we headed back to family headquarters to watch a movie. Like absolute lunatics, we doubled up laughing as we followed the action of a couple of corporate co-workers who screwed up their business trip to Europe. Everything slid sideways for them. It all fell apart.

You know what I mean: oversleeping, missing important meetings, making the wrong impressions on the right people, losing the big deal. Their misfortunes didn’t seem so funny, though, when I really thought about it. Each awful antic reminded me of my luck lately. It hasn’t been good since my girlfriend dropped me.

Needing some relationship advice, I decided to call Emily, my cousin in Florida. First, we caught up with each other’s lives, comparing notes on where we both were in the scheme of things. Apparently, she was on a roll. As much as it killed me, I added appropriate interjections to show how proud I was of her. You know: Ooh! Ah! Yes! In reality, I was so bummed by her success stories compared to my failures that I forgot to ask her how to get my girl back.

Since I still didn’t have a clue how to make that happen, I agreed to go bowling with my brothers. It seemed like a good time to get a 300 game. After missing the first split, though, my outlook grew glum. None of us bowled our best, so we trudged on back to the family manor to feast on one of our favorites, Chicken Parmesan with garlic bread. Food heals all wounds, at least temporarily.

After supper, Charlie, a neighborhood chum, stopped by to recruit us to shoot a few hoops with him. My brothers and I are probably a lot better at B-Ball than bowling, but I can’t say we broke any records that night. Our man Charlie, pizza-delivery-person turned rapper, was on his game. He refused to let us quit while he was ahead. Dribbling away joyfully, he made almost every shot. That’s all I needed. It hadn’t been a good day for me in any way.

Before going to bed that night, I was determined to finish reading Donald Trump’s autobiography, The Art of the Deal. After making mega-bucks in real estate and starring in his own TV show, he seemed confident he could pull off the U.S. Presidency. He probably would. Some people have it all. I considered the odds of a former realtor/reality show host leading the nation.

Compared with icons like Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy, Trump’s ambitions appeared unattainable. To be honest, though, any likelihood of his winning gave me a glimmer of hope. Whoever it was who said, You can do anything you set your mind to do, may have been right. People beat the odds almost every day. On that note, my thoughts turned back to my ex-girlfriend.

Yesterday, I was sure I was finished with her. Today, I’m desperate to resume our relationship. I’d do anything to get her back. Some days, our break-up seems like the worst thing that ever happened to me. It even tops the time the middle school principal busted a bunch of us guys in the midst of a pissing contest in the boys’ bathroom. To avoid being suspended, I volunteered to clean all the toilets. A few days off school may have been better medicine.

But back to my former girlfriend … There are moments that I’m glad to be free from a nearly two-year stretch with Scarlett. Now, I can hang out more with my friends and have fun with my brothers again, but I always end up thinking of her. I wish I knew what I really want. One day it’s Scarlett, love, marriage. Next day, I dream of saving humanity or striking it rich.

Baffled, I decided to get an opinion from one of my mentors, an author, career coach and business consultant. When I found out that she had published a few books, I asked her if she would co-author one with me based on journals I’d kept in college. We agreed on the title On the Rebound. The narrative, part real and part imaginary, would be based on some of my college experiences. At the end of each chapter, we decided, we’d analyze each situation to help other students navigate through turbulent school years. See what I mean:

My mentor assesses the breakup:

Don’t be in a rush to reunite with your girlfriend. It sounds like you have plenty of interests to pursue, along with your various part-time jobs, college classes, school assignments and exams. It’s OK to be just friends for a while. Give it some time. See how you feel in three months, in six months or so.

In the meantime, focus on the present and the future rather than on the past. Date other girls, find new friends, follow your current interests and develop new ones. Enjoy what you have. You’ve heard it said before: These are some of your best years. Don’t let them fade away feeling sorry for yourself.

Ask yourself questions like these: What do I want to do with my life? Am I taking the right steps toward my future? What type of work will I do 10 years from now? Which people can I see myself hanging out with then? What kind of woman should I marry? What do I really want to accomplish here on earth?

I respond:

Right now, what I think I want is to graduate from college with a degree in English/Education and start a real career. Ten years from now, I picture myself as a middle school track coach on course to becoming school principal. I know I’ll be good at that job. At least, I won’t blow a fuse when I catch a few guys kissing girls on the back of the bus!

To reach my goals, I’m doing what most college students do. I study hard by day and work even harder by night. Before landing my more profitable painting gig, I