Living Thru "The Struggle"

For some strange reason I’m really liking Ben Horowitz’s post The Struggle // ben’s blog. I’ve re-read it many times in the past few weeks. Here’s the “gist”.

As your dreams turn into nightmares, you find yourself in The Struggle.

I think I resonate with “The Struggle” because I recently attended the 20 year PMC-Sierra re-union. That event brought out a lot of really fond memories, but it also cracked the anxiety closet wide open to reveal some extremely dark times. Whew! Somehow we survived through “The Struggle.” What a test that was. In and out of the “pit of despair” so many times. It was fun to laugh about it.

I’m always amazed when someone wants to do a startup a second or third time. Have they forgotten how hard the Struggle is? Or do they feel the need to be “tempered” like steel again? It is definitely a period of growth, one really feels alive, but man it can really really hurt. It’s totally disorienting. I still vividly remember going to Packet Engines in the late-90′s and seeing the Struggle in action. I’d completely forgotten about it. I’d forgotten that it is a required part of the journey. That was a huge “Oh Shit” moment. C’est la vie.