Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”—Henry David Thoreau

Easter is a holiday that always makes me think of my father, my lifelong hero, as this was a favorite holiday of his. He left us a little over 17 years ago. I will always remember his beautiful tenor singing “Old Rugged Cross”—not the Alan Jackson country version (which I really do love) but more the formal church choir version. I think he loved Easter and that song because it was about rebirths and new beginnings.

My father was a man who reinvented himself in his forties. He had graduated from The Naval Academy in 1967 with a degree in Quantum Mechanics, and after serving his tour of duty on the maiden voyage of John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean as a navigator on the last of the great propeller planes (A-1 Skyraiders, A-SPADS, for those of you who are history buffs), had taught flight school in Pensacola before getting his Masters in business, and settling in to a career as a nuclear engineer.

While with this stellar resume, he should have been a great success, instead he struggled with inner demons and became a self-described “everything-a-holic.” The behaviors stemming from this caused problems for both his career and family life. For years he struggled to overcome these, resulting in battles with both mental and physical wellness and, consequently, a string of lost jobs and a failed marriage.

He was an amazing storyteller. Later in life, he would tell the powerful story of the dark and rainy night with the electricity out, that, while sitting by candlelight completely alone, he hit proverbial rock bottom. With his dreams shattered, and head hung low, he stumbled into the back of a church and into the rest of his life. That was his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and the day he handed his life over to something more powerful than himself. He was in his early forties, and remained sober for the rest of his life. In that day he found a dream and a mission. Over time he became a sponsor for others in the program. He also eventually made a major career transition to dedicate his life to something he saw as his true life purpose, teaching higher mathematics to high school students in an engineering and mathematics magnet program.

My father taught me many life lessons, too many to write here, but this one is amongst the most powerful: it is never too late for a new beginning. It is never too late to embrace your life purpose and make your dream come true. Please reach out to me if you would like to talk about how we could partner to make your dreams a reality.

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