Let Nothing Stop You
I'm attending a professional conference today and tomorrow for my real (meaning paying) job as a clinical pharmacist. Lucky for me, the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy's educational conference is held right in Boston at our Hynes Convention Center - so a quick bus ride and I'm there. I'm enjoying a few days of sliding into lecture hall seats and just absorbing new things with hundreds of my peers.
At the conference's opening session today, the keynote speaker was Christopher Gardner, the real-life stockbroker whose story was told in the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness'. Listening to him speak was like having my two worlds collide - pharmacy and parenting. But unlike George Costanza in that old Seinfeld episode, I appreciated the notion that my two passions could meet.
Chris Gardner gave the audience the details behind the movie version of his life, including the fact that his son was really only 18 months old when they were out on the street (not 5 years old as in the movie). He described how he grew up without a father, and how he vowed not to let this happen to his own children. His insistence on breaking the cycle of abandonment, and being the father he wished he'd had, kept him from giving up when life got extremely rough. Chris' message to us today was to persist against all odds to create the life that matches your values.
If Chris Gardner can make it through homelessness as the sole parent to an 18-month old baby, just think what we can do! Next time someone tells you (or your own mind tries to convince you) that you can't have the job, the work schedule, the work hours per week, the life that you desire, don't give up. Try again and again and again. Just like Chris.
Oh, and GO RED SOX!
posted by Amy @ 8:44 PM
2 Comments:
It won't be long before you and your husband are up at the podium, like Chris Gardner, inspiring people to think differently about the work family balance. Keep up the good work!
Aw...gee, thanks! Inspiring others toward balanced lives is one of our highest aspirations.
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