1151. An Inborn Talent for Mathematics and Finance Fails to Impress His Oppressive, Bipolar Father

“My mom and my dad were 16 when I was born. My mother was an amazingly loving woman all her life. My father, although I worshipped the guy, had his own issues and took it out on me in the sense that, by me being born, his life changed materially and he didn’t like that. Looking back, I now know he was bipolar and a narcissist.

“My self-esteem was knocked pretty low, and I didn’t take a lot of chances in life in those days. In fact, I was probably best served staying in my room with the door closed.  I had to spend years overcoming the scars that came from that relationship.

“I got my first accounting job as a public accountant. What I enjoyed was that my work was being delivered to a client who then was going to rely on that work for security and understanding of what their financials look like–so that they can get a loan from a bank or secure their publicly traded equity in the stock market, or whatever they needed.

“It was this first kind of professional validation that I was not that broken person I thought I was growing up, that my dad unfortunately instilled in me. I felt like I was discovering myself as being very service-oriented with my clients, and I really enjoyed that.

“In my next several jobs, I was also mostly looking ‘back’ at numbers to interpret them for clients, and that was great.  But looking forward with numbers would be even better. I decided to go to work with one of my old audit clients where I was in charge of their pension plan and all their investments and all their debt issuances. I thought this was the best job in the world. It didn’t pay me much, but it was a whole new world for me. During the three years of that job, I got my MBA at night and a professional designation on top of my CPA called a Chartered Financial Analyst designation or CFA.

“With my new degrees and experience, I transitioned into portfolio management and worked in several positions in different cities and companies, ending up in Los Angeles for 12 years. I remember the first three months I was there. I was living in a corporate apartment with all of the movie studios and all of the nicer restaurants and the glitz and glamour of L.A. right outside my window. I don’t want to say I got hooked, but in the beginning I was enjoying it an awful lot and embracing it.

“My career started to really accelerate. I felt that L.A. was ‘that place’ for me – the last place I was ever going to live. I was going to be hugely successful and crazy happy.

“I think what ended up happening with me was that I began to indulge, if not overindulge in Los Angeles. Because of my struggles in my youth and the fact that I wanted to please my father, all of my successes were measured by nothing other than how much money I made this year versus last year. I became obsessed with that and with what that money could acquire. I had everything in life that money could give me, and I wanted more. There wasn’t a reason why I wanted more–other than to prove my father wrong about my ability to be successful.

“I had to cut that cord somewhere, somehow.”

Tom Harrison has spent his career in the world of finance, traversing the four corners of the United States and beyond. Currently he is the owner of a thriving consulting firm, where he continues to channel his rich experiences into assisting others.

He is also an author with a passion for weaving captivating narratives. Born and raised amidst the vibrant rhythms of Memphis, his deep-rooted connection to the South shapes his unique storytelling style. His new book, From Punishment to Peace, Road Trips to Forgiveness, is a thought-provoking, philosophical memoir full of raw, spiritual insights and the healing of deep emotional and physical traumas.