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Posts by Mike OConnor

Mike O'Connor is the Director of Career Discovery and the Education Career Community at Williams College, where he helps many of the country's best liberal arts students find meaningful work. He recently started his own website, Wake Up, Be Awesome, Go to Sleep, as a means to help more people find purposeful vocations.

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How Losing My Father Helped Me Become A Happier (and Better) Person

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“In every loss there is a gain, as in every gain there is a loss, and with each ending comes a new beginning.” ~Buddhist Proverb

Four years ago, on a typically cold and overcast day in upstate NY, I found myself scurrying around preparing for a two-week trip to Kenya and Tanzania, which left the next day.

My father, a strong and soft-spoken sixty-two year old, had aspired to experience the great plains and animals of east Africa since childhood, and was deeply proud that he was able to pay for me to accompany him on his bucket-list adventure.

Though …