Last night Doug and I were walking our dog, Ella, and we happened to stop at the grocery store for a few things. I waited outside with Ella and walked up and down the block while I waited for Doug. I passed a liquor store that had floor to ceiling ads in their windows for Hudson Whiskey—it caught my eye because of their catchy phrases like, “Do The Rye Thing,” and “Bright Lights, Big Bourbon.” All of this made me think of my chiropractor from Princeton and his son, Devin, who opened his own award-winning business, Craft Beer and Brewing, out of Colorado at a very young age.

I don’t know a lot about Devin or Craft Beer and Brewing, but I remember being so impressed that this young man followed his passion to create this company from scratch! Who does that? Very few people is the correct answer. Very few people because not only do you have to have a passion for something, but you also have to have the guts to say, “This could fail, but I am willing to take the chance anyway!” The risk is huge, but so is the payoff—and I’m not even talking about money, yet.

As we get older, we get less brave. We are willing to risk a lot less, and that’s unfortunate, really. I understand WHY we are willing to risk less, but there are so many things we could do to pursue our passion that don’t involve a lot of financial outlay. Today is the day we think of a young man named Devin who unabashedly pursued his dream, knowing failure was as much of a possibility as success was. Ahh, and there’s the rub—we focus too much on the possibility of failure and not enough on the possibility of success. I’ll bet you if we asked Devin he’d say there have been a lot of both, but the journey has been incredible! It’s the journey we forget to incorporate.

Let’s GO! WE GOT THIS!
Beth Fitzgerald