Rock Bottom, this is what I’m calling my new writing venture. Writing some Life stories of my own from a Rock Bottom perspective. Whilst most writers prefer to tell their stories from a successful position in life, I am choosing to write mine from the lowest point in my journey. I am referring to Successful in terms of Financial freedom and not other perspectives like family and health etc where I feel and am differently.
I do not have expectations of being a successful blogger or writer, but after a couple of sessions with a counsellor friend who told me I might have a couple of good life stories to share and probably writing and sharing with others might be a good start for me to get unstuck.
By profession I am not a writer, my writing is probably average, but I am counting on the strength of my stories, being raw and blunt and life experiences to engage my readers. In that, I have plenty to offer as I have lived four times over a normal person would do. My life philosophy has always been to live to the max, no looking back, high risk, rewarded with great highs but at the same time punished with devastating lows!
It has always been like this for me. I was just afraid of having a normal average life. As Bob Proctor once said, walking safely to death never appealed for me. Since very young I always wanted to push my limits ,travel, study work abroad and get out of the Island mentality and do something meaningful with my life. Born in Australia but grew up in Valletta, my childhood was tough, gritty and raw! No exaggeration in saying my childhood Valletta friends are dead, in prison or superstars today. Average doesn’t exist! Up or Down! In or Out.
I was blessed to have found a wife that loves me religiously and follows. By religiously I mean blindly, not always agreeing and knowing my end game but she just hops on my boat, closes her eyes in blind faith and away we go. Pretty sure plenty of people will not agree but together we truly LIVE and love each other. It works for us. She is intelligent, strong, creative, a super mother, partner and lover. Our relationship has taken some serious hits due to our lifestyle but together we are strong. My wife is my Kryptonite, without her support and backing I am weak and lost. With her, I have No limits! Our marriage is as fresh as the year we met 22 years ago and life has rewarded our relationship with 3 wonderful kids!
Going back to Rock Bottom, I wish to clarify what this means to me. I meet different people who have different and distorted meanings of the very same word and position. So, I just want to be very clear on the state of hitting Rock Bottom. For me ,Rock Bottom means not being financially able to provide for my family in their basic needs, food and a roof above their heads.. Not being able to provide for them means I have after all fallen Rock bottom!
Not affording my next holiday to Sicily, not being able to buy the next Playstation or Nike shoes and
slippers, not affording to go twice a week to my favorite restaurant for me all are far from being rock bottom. You would be surprised how many people think and respond to you in this way. Yeah..I know what you mean mate, had to quit my gym last week and stopped my Netflix memberships. Life sucks..
Going back to the detail of my family, this is not a cosmetic or social detail I am sharing. It is crucial to explain myself better because family, especially kids, changes the whole perspective on life and the dynamic of Rock Bottom. I mean, being alone or even with my wife, we wouldn’t care less if we had to sleep in the car and starve for a couple of days. We know it’s a temporary state and eventually we would climb out of it, but kids?!Hell No! Kids change the whole scenario in a tragic way. So comforting me and telling me I understand or know how you feel when you don’t have kids is bull. Trust me you don’t! It’s like getting marriage counselling from a priest. I have nothing against priests. I went to Church school for secondary education and loved it. A priest would argue that they are married to Christ and can relate..it’s just a far notion and I won’t even go into the merit in this article.
For me the ONLY certainty I have learnt in my 50 years on this earth is that the only Life lessons you can genuinely get is from Life itself!! As Rocky Balboa yelled out to his son in Rocky 5 or 6, nobody hits harder than life. So True! The greatest and most real lessons I have learnt are all from Living. Karma is Real. I mean, what you seed you literally sow! This is my religion, it’s what I teach my kids. Be it professionally, health, love, relationships. And in many ways this is what has happened to me. All of my mistakes, mishaps have somewhat accumulated and hit me back all at once and crushed everything I was professionally building up. As a human being I am loved and respected by many people but on the other edge I have fucked up with banks, law and other small shitty details that now have caught up with me.
I am Danny Doneo. Welcome to my life stories and raw insight into my emotions, logic and experiences. I am 50 years old and have lived always pushing my boundaries and limits to the brink. I am a Photographer, entrepreneur, creative, writer,husband and father of four kids. I have studied and worked in different countries and continents for many years and had many highs and lows throughout my life journey! This is me. www.dannydoneo.com.