“Whatever decision you make, make sure it is the RIGHT one and not the SAFE ONE”.
25 years later and I still remember these words. And they still resonate to this day.
I was at a cross roads. I had always wanted to be an officer in the military. And in 1998, I was living one of my dreams as a naval officer. I had been stationed at Camp Lejeune, NC since 1995 and it was my very first tour. I had an active social life. I was renting a town home on the beach. I was dating (and eventually married) a beautiful woman. I was rolling.
And then, things got better. I got orders for my next duty station aboard the USS John F. Kennedy. As a young officer in my career field (Industrial Hygiene Officer), this was the dream assignment. I was going to be assigned to my favorite state (Florida) and I was so excited.
However, during this time, I was exploring my options. I was trying to determine if I could qualify for a very selective Naval Judge Advocate General program (JAG). The Navy had a program that would pay for select officers to go to Law School and they would have to give a certain amount of years to the Navy. All I had to do was get accepted into law school, apply for the Navy JAG program, and then cross my fingers. Fortunately, I got into law school. I applied as soon as I could. Unfortunately, I did not get into the JAG program.
The crazy part about this was that while I was trying to get into the JAG program, I got orders to the USS John F. Kennedy.
So here I am. I got admitted to law school (Florida State University; North Carolina Central) AND I got order to a great assignment.
Unfortunately, I did not know what to do. In order to go to law school, I would have to resign my commission, leave the military and go to school as a struggling college student. In order to the USS John F. Kennedy, I would have to put law school on hold for 3 years and then hope that I would still be interested to attend law school afterwards.
So with this dilemma in mind, I called my mom. I explained to her my options and asked what I should do?
In true MOM fashion, she said “I don’t know what you should or should not do but I do know this. Whatever decision you make, make sure it is the RIGHT decision and not the SAFE one”.
And with those few words, I was able to make my decision. I knew that I wanted to get my doctorate and the fact that I not only got admitted into law school but I got into THE school I wanted to attend affirmed that going to law school was the RIGHT school.
So, shortly after speaking with my mom, I then notified the Navy that I would be resigning my commission. It truly freaked me out to make that decision. I had settled in to being a Naval Officer. I had not been a struggling college students for awhile. But here I am, now faced with the reality of starting over.
The last day at my duty station (August 1998) was exciting and terrifying. I had to take the Department of Defense sticker off of my car. I had to load my car with my belongings. I was now heading off to a new phase of my life with no idea of whether it would work out. Each day in law school was a terrifying moment of self doubt about whether I made the RIGHT decision.
However, almost 3 years after resigning my commission, I was walking across the stage (May 2001) to get my Juris Doctorate (J.D.). My girlfriend was still with me. I had gotten my degree. And my mom was there to reassure me that I had made the RIGHT decision.
Comments
Post a Comment