Below is a message from me to my most beautiful daughter Allison.

I have just finished our phone call in which you had just left the office after quitting your job. Again, congratulations on how you handled the process!

My purpose in writing to you at this time, related to the congrats I gave above, is to both caution and to encourage you, as follows:

Caution:

You have just executed some decisions that likely left you feeling free from future worries and feeling empowered to make new, and exciting, decisions in the near term. Be cautious in treating this recent experience lightly. There are lessons to be learned here that could be prescient on how you handle personal behavior the rest of your life. Review the experience and look for lessons that may resonate with you. Own the lessons and the answers. Own today, every day. It may sound trite, but you only ever have today. This day. This hour. This minute.

Your uncle George fell off a trailer yesterday gouging his shin, which required 30 stitches to close. He is doing fine and back at work. During a conversation about his accident, we acknowledged how tenuous life is. We might lose it in the blink of an eye, so it is incumbent upon us to live it fully at all times, as best we can.

Given all this, I hope for you not to miss an opportunity at this time if one, in reality, exists for you now.

Encouragement:

As I mentioned above, you have self-empowered your life and your awareness. You have independently “filled your sails,” so to speak. Now, leverage the wind in your sails to move you through the coming rough seas of job search. Know that you can revisit your current state of being, at will, to bring internal resources to bear on new experiences at any time. Doing so might push you to even greater challenges and greater successes.

Once you practice these type behaviors, you will be, at least in part, living an examined life. I encourage to Google, and read about, “the examined life.” Whether you have previously realized it, or not, you do this already. I know this about you, for I can tell you know your life is worth living!

Living an examined life is hard, but I believe you are up to it. Don’t you? Turn your examination inwards on all parts of your life. Write down your discoveries! They are the fodder to be consumed on your path to personal enrichment, satisfaction, and joy.

Lastly, give thanks to your higher power. For brevity’s sake, let’s call Him God. Give thanks to God, from Whom all Blessings flow!

Your loving father,

Dad