"It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?"
This is a quote from Pursuit of Happyness, a movie that I have watched at least three times and found myself drawn to it again while channel surfing a few days ago. This time, the movie struck a different chord with me.
For those who have never seen the movie, it's based on the true story of Chris Gardner who went from living a comfortable life, to being homeless, to climbing back as a successful stock broker. While watching, I started to see a lot of parallels to his life and mine.
Chris sacrificed his life savings to start his new business of selling those medical scanners that you see him dragging around throughout the movie. After a few months, it became clear that the business would cost him his comfortable lifestyle, his marriage and almost his son. One scene that really stuck out was a flashback of Chris and his wife taking a picture in front of a stack of medical scanners that was just delivered to their house. It was a scene of optimism and joy. In stark contrast, the movie flips back to the present and shows Chris trying to share his small accomplishments of the day, while his wife only responds with an apathetic "Whatevers, I don't care!"
I started Neighborhood Grinds with the intention of achieving "happiness." I always told myself that the next business I start, will be something that I am passionate about, and my love for coffee and meeting new people pointed towards a coffee shop. I took the plunge and threw my life savings into the store and my comfortable lifestyle out the window.
Looking back at the past 16 months, this has been by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I understand the plight of Chris Gardner and for months, Neighborhood Grinds has been my "medical scanner." A day hasn't gone by where I questioned if my own pursuit of happiness has cost me my family's well being and financial stability.
Fortunately, the parallels of Chris's life and my life ends as Neighborhood Grinds has been growing. Whatever successes I have enjoyed has all been a testimony of how supportive of a wife I have. My pursuit of happiness has placed a huge burden on her as she works a full time job and still manages to take care of our 3 year old daughter and 8 month old son while I spend most of my waking hours at the store. I remember the nights I would go home and share my small accomplishments of the day with her. Deep inside I can see the worry and doubt, but she would always respond with a smile and encouraging remark. She never responded with "Whatevers, I don't care."
Thank you Janette for being the bottomless well of encouragement and never losing faith in me.
