Right, so I saw the news today. Jake Paul hanging up the gloves, the influencer boxing thing. Huh.
It got me thinking, actually. Not about the boxing, really. More about the whole ‘influencer’ part. The trying something out, making a big splash, then… stopping.
My Own Little ‘Retirement’
Reminds me of last summer. I got this wild idea. I was watching videos online, you know, people doing woodworking. Making tables, little boxes, whatever. Some of them seemed to be doing alright, making a bit of cash from it.
So I thought, “I can do that.” I’m pretty handy, right? Went down to the hardware store. Bought myself a bunch of tools. Saw, clamps, sandpaper, the lot. Wasn’t cheap, let me tell you.
Cleared out a space in the shed. Spent a whole weekend just setting up a workbench. My back was killing me afterwards.
Then I actually tried making something. A simple birdhouse. How hard could it be?
- Measured the wood. Wrong.
- Cut it again. Crooked.
- Tried nailing it together. Split the wood.
- Got frustrated. Sweating like mad in that shed.
Okay, maybe not a birdhouse. Let’s try something simpler. A cutting board. Just a flat piece of wood, right?
Glued some strips together. Looked okay. Then came the sanding. Hours and hours of sanding. My hands were raw. Dust everywhere. In my nose, my eyes, probably my lunch.
And I was trying to film it too! Bought a little tripod for my phone. Kept knocking it over. The angles were terrible. You could mostly just see my elbow and the messy floor.
Posted one video. Think my nephew watched it. Maybe. Got about 5 views.
After about three weeks of this, sawdust in my hair, splinters in my fingers, shed looking like a disaster zone… I just stopped.
Packed up the new tools. Shoved the half-finished cutting board under the bench. Haven’t really touched them since. It wasn’t fun. It felt like a chore I was bad at. Trying to make it look good for a camera I didn’t know how to use? Forget it.
So, yeah. Jake Paul. Retiring from influencer boxing. I don’t know the guy, don’t really follow it. But that feeling of starting something big, thinking it’s gonna be one thing, and then just… stopping because it’s not working out or it’s just too much hassle? Yeah. I kinda get that.
Sometimes you just gotta put the tools back in the box.
