Help for the journey

I was recently asked, What are the best ways to live your life your late twenties and early thirties, in order to prevent a mid-life crisis. What a great question. Far too many people within that age category are far too busy to stop to reflect upon such issues… until the reach their 40s, and experience a mid-life crisis. By that time, I usually see them in my office, either trying to figure out how to dig themselves out of a mess, or how to make sense of the mess that someone else had created. I offer the response I provided to the “seeker,” in hopes that it proves beneficial to others: "You have asked THE most important question confronting all of us. Though it is always a risk being brief, especially when volumes can, and have been, written on the subject. But, I guess I would simply pass along advice from the wisest man who ever lived… Solomon. The Bottom of Ecclesiastes is essentially Solomon’s journaling at the end of his life, after he went through

I had heard that parents look back and wonder where the time went, as they launch their last child from the nest. Well, having just experienced that, I can attest to the reality of how the years can pass by all too quickly, as my youngest son just graduated from high school. What an experience it was for me to reflect on all those years! Wow, where did the time go? Wasn't it just yesterday that he and I walked hand-in-hand on the beach, his little hand in mine, as we negotiated the waves as they would cover his tiny feet with foam? Well, this is what I tried to prepare myself for... the moment I would release him as a young adult, into a world that is so filled with promise, yet has so many potential pitfalls and temptations. So, as I purchased a journal for him as a graduation gift, and sat down to pen some thoughts... some fatherly advice I wished I had received from my dad. I wanted to share some of the things I believe he would need to know... some fatherly adv