Cliff Rule #37

Cliff Rule #37: Follow your bliss.

For the record, I suppose I must admit that Cliff Rule #37 is a bit derivative, so much so that it was blatantly stolen from some parting advice given by Cher in an episode of Will and Grace.

Yes, I've taken life advice from this woman. In my defense,

she is the only thing other than cockroaches and Twinkies

that could survive a nuclear war. That's worth something.

While I wouldn't buy hair products from the woman, she makes a good point in that advice.

For years, I saw myself being pushed in the direction of becoming a lawyer, mainly by Ms. Liz.

Honestly, it made sense.

I enjoy arguing, persuasion, and theatrics, all of which are essential lawyering skills.

I'm ethically dubious ... yet another essential legal skill.

I did Youth Judicial in high school and was always a lawyer for my team, trying to blend together some high school version of Atticus Finch, Matlock, and Perry Mason all rolled into one. Other than an odd Foghorn Leghorn-esque Southern accent, I dare say I failed at that mission.

Even after I left my law-friendly poli sci major to become an English major, the lawyer mantle was still in the back of my mind.

"You'd be so great at it," the Inner Lawyer said. "What's not to like? Think of the money. Think of the prestige. You'd be a natural."

It bothered me so much that my senior year at Auburn, I actually took the LSAT, just to see what might come of it. I talked to some local lawyers and judges, nice family friends who were happy to talk to me about what I might expect from law school and the legal profession. Several offered to write letters of recommendation and make phone calls.

That was an option. It was dangerously close to being reality.

I thought about it for a long time, prayed over it, and sought counsel.

When none of that worked and I was up nights worrying, I turned to my movies to help me fall asleep.

I popped in "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit." (What can I say? I love Whoopi and nuns.)

Damn if Whoopi didn't have the advice I was looking for.

I went to my mother who gave me this book called "Letters To A Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke. He’s a fabulous writer. A fellow used to write to him and say: I want to be a writer, please read my stuff. And Rilke says to this guy, don’t ask me about being a writer. If when you wake up in the morning you can think of nothing but writing, then you’re a writer.

When I wake up in the morning, I think about reading and writing.

I wake up and pray that I'll be able to show others the joy and happiness reading and writing have made in my life, inspiring them to read and write more for themselves.

Through reading, we discover more about the world as others see it; through writing, we discover how we see the world ourselves.

I'm an English teacher, the batty kind that will make high school seniors memorize lines from The Canterbury Tales in Middle English.

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a lawyer.

The money would have been nice, but life shouldn't be driven by the pursuit of money. The happiness of doing a job you enjoy can outweigh the pleasures of money.

Ethically dubious though I may be, even I couldn't have made myself defend people or corporations I knew to be in the wrong. I might be a bit of a whore at times, but on larger moral and ethical issues, my compass points due north.

Any good lawyer has to defend the guilty as well as the innocent; that's what makes them good. I know me, and I wouldn't have tried as hard for a guilty client.

There are people out there who are destined to be great lawyers. I'm glad, because I say a lot of crazy things and I may need one of them some day soon.

Don't let the pressures of family, friends, and a logical path push you in a direction that won't make you happy.

Find what you wake up thinking about and do that.

Discover your bliss ... and then follow the hell out of it.