FFC Blog Roll

 

The essay below was entered it in the "Why I Should Own the Wellston Inn" contest in 2000. The Wellston Inn is an historic inn on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Upon submission of a 500 hundred word essay and $100.00 entry fee, the Wellston Inn could be yours, provided your essay was judged the winner.

To date, a winner has not been chosen and none of the entry fees have been returned.

 

 

I should own the Wellston Inn because: "Success is a Journey, not a Destination." It may sound trite. But, like many adages, the words hold tremendous power. Sometimes the lessons they teach are learned too late. With luck, they are learned early. I was fortunate enough to learn in time.

I began my career as a lawyer sixteen years ago. After a year, I struck off on my own. I rented a tiny office that included a small wooden desk. I was a fresh-faced twenty-five-year-old entrepreneur. As with most fledgling businesses, however, the rewards were few and far between. I found a clipping in my desk that occasionally fueled my hope. It simply said, "Success is a Journey, not a Destination." I read it to reorient when things looked bleak.

My office suite was full of attorneys. They told me about the tragic death of a lawyer who had worked there. The night before his wedding, the office threw a bachelor party. After a long night of partying, the groom decided to drive home. When he failed to arrive, his bride was frantic. He was found dead in his car after driving off the road. Sometime after, I was commiserating with an office mate about our job. Without much thought, I pulled the clipping from my desk. She was stunned. I did not know it, but the desk belonged to the dead groom. The clipping must have been his. The irony was not lost on either of us.

As time moved on, I relocated to a different city. Business did improve. My destination became closer and closer. However, the closer I got, the more I realized that my work was dreadful and agonizing. I knew that it was not my chosen profession. Instead, it was chosen for me by a generation that measured success by status and wealth. Like Gregor Samsa in Kafka's The Metamorphosis, I was rapidly transforming into a wretch.

The more I wanted out, the harder it got to leave. There seemed to be no exit. I finally decided, as the great mythologist Joseph Campbell would have suggested, it was time to "follow my bliss." I knew it would be difficult, and I was not about to quit my day job. Nevertheless, I began to reinvent myself. Having been a life-long outdoorsman and fisherman, with a fourteen-year passion for fly fishing, I knew where the path would lead. I bought a 17-foot runabout and started studying for my captain's license. Soon, at least on the weekends, I would be guiding sports for strippers on a fly. Only time will tell what will come next.

I have journeyed onto a new path, and have come to fully grasp the power of adage I learned, but did not truly understand, so long ago. Success is not a destination at all. Rather, it is found only in the journey itself no matter where it leads - so long as you follow your heart.

 

Postscript: I sold the boat and am still practice law. So much for following your heart.