Mason L.

I grew up in a rural town and was a typical sporty kid; played soccer, swam, and ran track. I also did band in middle school and was on the academic team for creative writing. I had authoritative parents who believed in yelling and hard core grounding. They were not abusive or anything, and I love them, but I rebelled a bit once I got into high school; spent a lot of time locked in my room reading books. I graduated high school and went off to University, where I was woefully unprepared. I had always gotten good grades growing up, but I never had to try, and I found it difficult to manage my time with the newfound freedom. I dropped out of school after 1 semester and returned home with my tail between my legs. I spent the next 2-3 years bouncing job to job. I did a couple semesters of community college, with 1 going well and 1 not, but my life had zero direction. At 21, I was fed up with how my life was going. All of my friends were close to graduating college, careers in sight, and I was feeling left behind. One day, I woke up at 4AM for work and decided I was going to join the military. I drove straight to the Army recruiting office after my shift, and 45 days later I was off to boot camp to be an infantryman. I spent the next 3 years hating my life, not knowing I was experiencing one of the best decisions I would ever make. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I learned so much about discipline, work ethic, leadership, and my own mental/physical limits. In that span of time, I deployed to Afghanistan, got married and had a baby, discovered my love for coaching soccer, and made life-long friends. I got out of the Army when I was 25 and headed back to my home state. My wife made good money, so I started my retirement as a stay-at-home dad to my infant/stepson, and I threw myself into coaching soccer in my free time. My wife ended up getting laid off a couple months into us moving home, and we decided I should switch roles with her and be the bread winner. I spent the next 2 years trying as hard as I could to earn a living coaching soccer full-time. In that span, I coached over 200 kids, leading up to 6 teams simultaneously. I was getting my coaching education, networking well, and managed to succeed everywhere I coached. With my VA disability, we were getting by, but the margins were too small. Youth soccer isn't financially lucrative, and ultimately, I decided to take a break from coaching. Around that same time, my wife and I decided to split. She and the kids moved out of our rental house, and she got her own place. 2 months later, she started dating one of her male friends, and he quickly moved in with her and the kids. I was ok with it though; I was much happier, and the boyfriend is a good man. He gave my ex financial support that she and the kids needed as well. In the 3 years since the split, I have been all over the place. I went back to school for accounting, worked as a tax intern, then dropped out with 1.5 semesters left because I realized I couldn't sit at a desk the rest of my life. Last year, I was presented with a great opportunity to coach at a new club. I was in a director-ish position, but being a non-profit, they didn't have the funding to offer me a salary yet. I have fully thrown myself into that club, as well as another local non-profit that helps underserved youth; the latter offering me a salary that allows a comfortable enough life. All of this hasn't come without struggle though. I battled with mental health issues up until 25, when I ended up getting diagnosed with bipolar disorder; my doctors saying the fact I made it through deployment untreated was a miracle. Alcohol was also an issue into my late 20's. My then wife helped curb that during our time together, but the first year after our split was rough; a lot of late nights staring down a bottle. Luckily I was able to pull myself out of that, find some balance, then decide to just quit drinking all together. I have had a pretty full life so far. I have so many crazy stories, met a lot of interesting people, learned a ton along the way, and grown as a person year-by-year. Please reach out if you want to chat. No topic is off-limits with me, and I always reserve judgement. If you need help with something, I can help if I honestly think I can be of value; if not, I am always open to simply listening. I love helping people, with or without advice, and I know that sometimes it helps just to be heard. I am also here just to shoot the shit. I've listed the topics I'm into on my profile, but I genuinely love learning about new things. My friend taught me binary the other day, and I'm not even a computer guy, but it was something new and interesting. I hope I get to hear from you, and if you made it this far, I thank you for taking the time to read a bit about me.