I met the love of my life, Irene, while we were both in college in Nairobi. She studied business administration while I took up engineering. She was and still is an amazing lady. It didn’t take long before we fell deeply in love with each other. We both loved acting and were part of our church drama group. Four years after we started dating, I proposed to her and she accepted. At around this time, we were both working and things were going great. Our wedding plans went very well, thanks to a tremendously supportive group of friends and family. The wedding itself was a beautiful and colorful affair. We were so happy and things could not have been better.

After the honeymoon, we moved into our new home and started our life together as man and wife. We had a few problems while trying to settle into our new roles, but they were nothing serious. Most of the time, we were doing very well and things were going great. However, this did not last very long as I was soon out of a job. It had only been four or five months after our wedding and now I was jobless. The wedding had used up all of the money I saved and being out of work was not what we needed so soon in our married life.

Initially, I was full of hope and confidence that a job would be coming my way soon. But as the weeks turned into months, I realized this wasn’t going to be easy. The bills were piling up and debt was quickly accumulating. Irene’s job as a hotel receptionist was our only source of income. She was quickly growing weary of having to pay for everything and this was really affecting our relationship.

Having too much free time on my hands got me into the habit of drinking since friends who were on their day off would ask me to join them for company. This was a big mistake because my wife could not understand how I never had any money yet I was always drunk. Resentment soon set in and we had many ugly exchanges. Soon we were drifting apart and I was sinking deeper into alcoholism. It was tough. Intervention by friends and relatives did not help the situation. I thought she was being unreasonable in expecting me to spend the whole day in the house, while she could not understand what kind of friends would keep a broke, jobless man drunk in the bars every single day.

After so many painful fights about our life and finances, I walked into our house one evening to find my wife gone. She could not take any more of the arguments and the debts. I would love to say that this was the turning point for us but things actually got worse. I was really losing it with the drinking and everyone around me was seriously concerned. As they say, the darkest hour comes before the dawn and just when there seemed to be no hope, a new beginning walked into my life.

I was in the house watching a movie when a friend came in. He had been out for an interview and for some reason, he thought I would be a perfect fit for the job he did not get. I asked him about the job and for the first time in my life, I heard about call centers. It was an interesting concept that was both appealing and intriguing. The call center was looking to hire individuals who had excellent English and could work with British and American accents. My friend was right, English was my forte. I had always loved debates, as well as reading a lot of English books.

The next day, I went in for the interview and by the end of it, I was one of the twenty candidates shortlisted for training. It was the best thing that had happened to me in months and I knew I had a chance to turn my life around.

This opportunity was great and I could earn a steady income if I was successful in the training. The only problem was, I did not even have enough money for the bus fare to get me through training. This was in addition to the massive pile of bills that we had accrued over the months. It was a tight situation and I had no idea how to go about it. After a lot of soul searching, I realized there was only one person who could help me through this. I went and talked to Irene. It was not easy and as we talked, I realized how selfish and negligent I had been. Eventually, she agreed to come back and we started making those baby steps towards rebuilding our relationship.

Whoever said prevention is better than cure knew exactly what they were talking about. It was a tough time and the bills were still piling. I went through the training and got a job as a call center agent. Once I started working, the tide turned and things started looking up. Within three months, we managed to reduce our debt significantly and also improve our relationship. Things were slowly getting back on track and it was a great feeling to be able to not only provide for my wife, but to also have the opportunity to take her out and spoil her with a few luxuries. I was also in a position to help out whenever my parents or siblings needed something.

As they say, when it rains, it pours. Most people only apply this to trouble but I have seen it also when it comes to the good things in life.  This is because after I had worked in the call center for only four months, I was awarded a promotion to the position of quality analyst. Shortly after, I was made a team leader. It was just amazing.

While still working at the call center, I met a lady who introduced me to freelancing. I have always wanted to work in my own business and this was a great opportunity for me, especially now that I had the call center experience. I started off with part-time freelancing where I would work on data entry projects. I worked in the call center for eight hour shifts and then focus on my freelancing after work. The beginning was not easy but I was able to bear with it as I was not relying on it for my income. After some time, I ventured into writing and was delightfully surprised to discover a talent I didn’t know I had. After several months working on various writing and data entry projects, I was making enough money to quit the call center job and take care of my freelancing business full time. Not only was I able to make more money, but I was also doing something I thoroughly enjoyed. Writing requires a lot of research and I am constantly learning new and interesting things.

Freelancing also allowed me the freedom and time to further work on my relationship with my wife. Today, we have a better marriage and I believe that each day we learn how to make our relationship more meaningful.

I have learned some important life lessons from this whole experience. My darkest hour truly came before the dawn and I was lucky to have someone who helped me get to see the sun rise again. I now appreciate my wife more than I ever did. I often share this story with friends to encourage them when their relationships are going through tough times. The reason why most people fail is because it is really easy to fold and give up when times are hard. Success requires struggling, taking risks, and lifting yourself up time and time again - even when things look hopeless.