Most of us, much of the time, are preoccupied with how we are perceived by the world and thus quite concerned with how we present ourselves. The most glaring examples often pointed to are the magical and happy lives depicted on the average Facebook or Instagram feed. However, I’d like to reveal some of the moments I’ve omitted from my social media accounts: the little failures, mishaps, bad luck and rejections that live quietly in the shadows of my personal story:

I was fired from my first job, as a pizza delivery guy, while still in high school. My boss felt that getting hopelessly lost in Hackensack, New Jersey, taking close to two hours to locate a customer who lived ten minutes away, then handing them a cold pizza, did not indicate a real aptitude for the job. There was no GPS in 1970, only torn, barely legible paper maps with microscopic street names I’d study by flashlight on the side of the road.

In college, I only lasted one day working for Time-Life books, making cold calls to convince harried housewives that they desperately needed to purchase a set of books they didn’t want or need, for an exorbitant fee. Each of the salespeople in the room were set up with a desk, a phone, and a large cardboard display........

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