Futurelawyer

A Stoic's Guide To Hurricanes.

Stoicism And James Bond. "

In the center of Bond was a hurricane-room, the kind of citadel found in old-fashioned houses in the tropics. These rooms are small, strongly built cells in the heart of the house, in the middle of the ground floor and sometimes dug down into its foundations. To this cell the owner and his family retire if the storm threatens to destroy the house, and they stay there until the danger is past. Bond went to his hurricane-room only when the situation was beyond his control and no other possible action could be taken. Now he retired to this citadel, closed his mind to the hell of noise and violent movement, and focused on a single stitch in the back of the seat in front of him, waiting with slackened nerves for whatever fate had decided for B.E.A. Flight No. 130."

In Florida, we get a lot of hurricanes. Ian came through yesterday with a vengeance, and there are millions of Floridians dealing with the aftermath, and millions more who are facing it today and tomorrow. We in St. Petersburg had a lot of power loss; but, the brunt of the storm passed south of us, and we are fortunate. The whole experience has reinforced my Stoic beliefs, and my previous experience with Irma 5 years ago this month. Fate will do as it wills, and there is nothing any human can do about it. Flailing around trying to control outcomes is futile. We do what we can, and then we accept fate's results. Too often, when fate deals a blow, some of us spend days, months, or even years, allowing the memory to affect our lives. The key to Stoic reaction is resilience. We never give up. We never surrender. We find goodness and joy in every human experience, no matter how dire the experience looks or feels. Your spouse dies? Get up on your feet, and allow life to bring you another. Every time I say that, I get "But, how can you experience joy with another?" "How disrespectful", etc. In fact, it would be wrong to waste a life over something in the past and out of our control. Your house floats away in a hurricane? Sorry, but, if you are alive, you dig in, fight for insurance, and build another. Epictetus was in slavery his whole life. He lost a leg. Still, he persevered and became one of the wisest philosophers of his age, or any age. 

Back to James Bond. While his exploits seem unreal and impossible, the point is always his resilience. Nothing fazes him. He perseveres. He keeps his hurricane room, which is a metaphorical center of his reality that he goes to to await the next judgment of fate after he has done all he can in a given situation. Be like Bond. James Bond.

Hurricane Ian Takes Aim At Tampa Bay - What, Me Worry?

Hurricane Ian Track. Sometime tomorrow, Hurricane Ian will hit Tampa Bay residents where we live. I suppose it was inevitable, after 100 years of misses. But, I am not worried. Fate intervenes in our lives every day, in ways that we can't control. All we can control are our reactions. Sure, we can prepare as much as possible. But, my choice is to be sanguine in the face of such things. I live and work at the highest point of Pinellas County, around 35 feet of elevation. Of course, that won't protect us from wind damage. Actually, I am looking forward to seeing how my Starlink antenna handles 85 to 100 mph winds. It is rated at that; and, my recent forays show it can handle 60 mph travel on the Interstate. We have several power bricks for computers and phones and stuff, and with  a home, an office, and an RV, we have options if one gets blown away. Unlike 5 years ago, when I was hit with a hurricane, and a dying wife in another part of the State, and no power, and more, I am riding this one out with the lovely, hard working Diane, who doesn't get flustered in a crisis. When I was a kid growing up in Jacksonville, a hurricane was an excuse not to go to school, and I had some memorable times playing in the downed trees on our block. So, whatever your situation, remember that you don't get to control it. You do, however, get to decide how you deal with it. I think I am going to play with my gadgets as long as the power supplies last. 

Memento Mori. Life Is What Happens While You Are Making Plans.

Some things are inevitable. All things are possible. Stop making plans and become mindful of the present. Easy.

Mondays Are The Worst - How To Protect Yourself.

I have always hated Mondays. After a taste of freedom from stress and worry on the weekend, I always found Mondays to be depressing. But, the Stoic philosophy has a solution to that. Premeditatio Malorum. Assume that fate will deal you blows, and you will be prepared for them. As a bonus, when you realize that most of our fears never come to pass, you will enjoy the good times all the more. So, while enjoying the weekend, I briefly meditated on the coming week, and all the bad stuff I imagined happening. When I awoke today, I realized that I was still alive and well, and feel better about the fact that a pterodactyl may be flying around waiting to pick me up and bring me to my forever home. Isn't it wonderful?

Adopt The Correct Attitude Towards Life, Death And Fate.

Has fate dealt you some blows lately? Are you having trouble dealing with illness, job loss, angry people and relatives, or whatever else has happened lately? Monty Python has the solution, and it involves the Stoic principle of accepting what fate brings you, and controlling your reactions. Always look on the bright side of life.

 

#WhyIAmASolo - It Is Easier To Let Go Of Planning.

Mythologist and Philosopher and Psychologist, Joseph Campbell, echoed Stoic thought when he said: "You have to let go of the life you planned, and accept the one you have waiting for you." That is a paraphrase; but, it is a common theme among rationalists who think about how to live a satisfying and happy life. Another take is to "do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life". Again, we human tend to want to have the feeling that we are in control of our present and future, and we will do just about anything to grasp at that control. As baby lawyers, we plan a future of working hard, playing hard, and becoming a partner in a firm with many others. We plan a future family. We plan vacations. We plan our lives on calendars, and in computers. In BigLaw, and other large organizations, it is mandatory to plan the future of the firm. We have annual planning meetings, five year plans, long term plans, short term plans. The practice of law contributes to the need to plan. We plan strategy in cases, we plan for the future in our estate planning. We draft documents that have meaning well into the future. Then,  we realize that trying to control the future is a fool's errand. In solo practice, it is much easier to live a life in which there is little or no planning. In fact, we plan all our lives, watch our plans get derailed at every turn, and wake up one day realizing that the best part of our lives happened when we weren't planning at all. Final meme of the day: "Life is what happens when you aren't planning". So, even if you don't go solo, you can adopt an attitude of wonder and surprise every day. You can surrender to your fate. You can understand that life happens, no matter what. And, finally, you can spend your life living it, not trying to control what happens next.

Professional Sports - The Last True Meritocracy.

As I watched my favorite NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, destroy my most hated team, the Dallas Cowboys, last night, it occurred to me to ask myself why I was so attracted, still, to the sport. I have been watching NFL football since I was a pre-teen. I have been a season ticket holder of the Bucs since 1976. I have spent hundreds of Sundays, and Thursdays, and Mondays watching the sport, and still marvel at the physical and mental skill exhibited by young men on the field of battle. The game appeals to me in ways that defy description; but, last night it occurred to me that I loved the game more in a time in which our culture seems to have forgotten what true competition is all about. We rose from the mud primeval through the principle of survival of the fittest. There were no participation trophies in the Stone Age. You survived or you died. Professional competition, in any sport, not only allows us to escape for a moment, the stresses and problems in our lives, and allows us to participate in a group activity that is larger than our selves; but, it meets a need for a pure, unpolluted, life, free from infection by political correctness. While the NFL pays lip service to the current cancel culture with messages on helmets, and pre game ceremonies, and so forth, the game itself is still won by the fastest, and strongest, and the team with the stronger will. For a few hours yesterday, I was in a world that made sense, a world in which the winner was determined by skill, effort, and ability. You can take the Redskins name off of the helmet. You can call the team any name you want. The only thing that matters is the score at the end of the game. As another famous sportscaster once said: "The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat". It's about human survival. 

 

 

Choose Happiness.

5 years ago today, this was my office waiting room. A hurricane was coming through, and even though my office is 25 feet above sea level, a direct hurricane hit could be devastating. I wanted the bird cages to be as far away from the windows and walls as possible. In fact, as I slept that night on the floor of my office, the hurricane sounded like a thundering train coming through. As if to show its power, fate also had provided me with 6 months of watching Jacquelyn dying of brain cancer, and she was lying in a bed at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. I, and a few of my friends and family members rode out the hurricane together. It seemed to me as if fate was laughing at me. I had led a charmed life for the most part, and the ceiling was falling in on me. After the hurricane passed, I spent days removing downed trees, several of which were in the pool, and removing rotting food from the freezer. If you have ever had to empty a floor freezer containing rotten meat, and carry it in plastic bags, you can understand my frustration. When Jacquelyn died six weeks later, I was convinced that fate was my enemy. But, then, I had to make a choice. It would be easy to wallow in my bad fortune. It would be easy to use grief as an excuse. Who would question a grieving widower if he checked out, and spent his time locked in the house? But, then I recalled my Stoic training. I realized that none of what happened was in my control. My reaction to it was. I could choose life. I chose to be open to every day of living. I decided to find joy, and to enjoy each day in which fate didn't hit me with another disaster. Today, I am again happily sharing my life with a lovely, kind, giving and caring woman, whom I choose to love every day. Some tell me that I overshare on social media. However, I want to use these moments to show that we all can choose to be happy. Are you in the midst of a disaster or disasters?  Choose happiness today. No power on earth can stop you.

Thomas Sowell Channeling Ayn Rand.

Cultural Offering. Cultural Offering reminds us of one of my favorite Sowell quotes today. The idea comes from the fertile mind of Ayn Rand, and diagnoses a sick society in which the weak, unproductive and offended majority take control of the society, and bring it to ruin. There will come a time when the productive, working minority have had enough. They will tire of supporting an increasingly noisy cabal of do nothings, and separate themselves. My age means that I probably won't live to see it; but, if the Internet really is immortal, I hope that Sowell and Rand are still read and used as a reference to the society that might have been. Labor Day seems an appropriate backdrop for seeing our failing society through the lens of truth. Is it inevitable?

#WhyIAmASolo - I Decide When I Get A Raise.

It seems appropriate to discuss salary and compensation on Labor Day. Work and labor are not only the way our society thrives; but, are, in my opinion, the way that we make our lives meaningful and complete. Not all labor feeds the soul; but, work we are passionate about, and enjoy most of the time, makes our lives richer and more joyful. Solo law practice isn't really designed to make a lot of money, except for the rare few. But, the freedom and control it provides are worth far more than money. Solo practice also has afforded me a way to continue working as long as I want, and when I want. While I have the ability to give myself a raise, the money isn't always there to do so. But, I have an aversion to being subject to the whims and desires of others, and each of us must decide how much freedom we are willing to give up for a more structured life. I wear no crown; and, at the top of BigLaw, the phrase "uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" comes to mind. Yes, the higher ups in BigLaw get to make the decisions, and there is a certain freedom in that; but, they are also at the mercy of the actions of many others, and deal with many problems that solo lawyers avoid. Young lawyers, pick your poison. I fell into solo practice by accident, when no big law firm recruited me. But, I knew immediately, fifty years ago, that I loved enjoying the small accomplishments. If you have to ask someone else for a raise, you are beholden to them. I prefer the risk and reward of doing it all by myself. Happy Labor Day. Enjoy your labors. They are a big part of your life. Live it.