If you know me, you know I love the old Dick Van Dyke Show. So you can imagine how pleased I was when Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday last month. He enjoys incredibly good health for a man his age. PBS recently released a documentary on his iconic life, but I’ve read his autobiography. And one thing that stood out to me was just how tough he had it at the start.
In his early twenties, Dick was just starting out in comedy. He was newly married to Marge, and they were renting a small apartment in Malibu, California, before it was Malibu, California. (This was the late 1940s.) The only car they could afford was a 1935 Ford convertible. It was cheap because it didn’t have a top. Most days, that was fine. Los Angeles had great weather. But when it rained, Dick and Marge got soaked, right along with the inside of the car.
Marge was pregnant. One day, she had complications. Dick rushed her to the hospital. She lost the baby and had to stay there. They had been evicted. They hadn’t paid rent for three months.
Dick did have enough cash to pay the hospital bill. With what little they had left, he shelled out enough for a small motel room with a hot plate. It doesn’t get much lower than that.
It is natural to look at someone else’s success and suppose that they arrived at that place with much less hardship than you or me. Rarely, if ever, is that true. Most people who make it have faced more hardship than we’d ever want, and they stuck with it longer than most of us would. The difference is, they just kept going. So remember, success is never as easy as it looks.
Mark
Dr. Mark Edge
The WorkEdge Company
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Email: workedgetexas@gmail.com
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