Last weekend the Roosevelt High School class of ’85 came together for our 30-year reunion, and I’ve been reflecting on the experience. I believe all of us want to find meaning and purpose in our lives. I sometimes struggle with questions like, “what’s my purpose?” and “what’s the meaning of life?” and suspect that many of us do from time to time.  

In talking with classmates, I was inspired to see how others are traveling through the journey of life and it affirmed a belief that has been taking hold in me. It’s the belief that meaning in life is an act of will, a choice. Purpose is something that we each must create and is not external to us. At the reunion, I saw incredible diversity in the ways in which my classmates have found purpose and meaning in their lives. The lesson for me being that “what” we live for is not nearly as important as living for something or someone we love and believe in (or may things and people).

I spoke with classmates who have found meaning in their garden, soccer team, church, children, dojo, brewery, pets, music, sobriety, reading, business and health, just to touch on a few. I spoke with a classmate who found greater meaning in life by making deliberate choices to balance two things she cares about, her career and her family. We all have our struggles and hardships, but I saw a lot of joyful people and it made me happy.

I left the legal profession a few years ago. In retrospect, I believe I left because I was too focused on the business aspect of the practice and not on relationships with my clients. After what I now call my sabbatical, I returned to law but with a new mindset: focus primarily on relationships with my clients and let the business end take care of itself. I now find purpose and meaning in my career. Everyone I spoke with at the reunion reaffirmed for me that this is a good way to live. Thank you RHS class of 1985.

About Bill Coats Law:

Our core values are empathy and grit.
Empathy – caring, listening and understanding

  • We do our best to always listen to, care for and understand our clients.
  • Our goal is to provide outstanding service.
  • We limit the number of cases we take so that we can provided high quality service.

 

Grit – persistence and determination

  • We are persistent and determined.
  • We do all in our power to achieve excellent results for every one of our clients.

We also try our best to be honest, helpful, positive and humble.

 

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