Origin Story: The Slogan

This one started as BABB (that's what I'm calling it these days) post, but after getting into it I quickly realized it had more of a Wanderer vibe to it. So here goes...

Like most of the things that have taken place for this "company" so far, the slogan development strategy was pretty spontaneous. I had this grand vision once I had my subscribers I could outsource the slogan to them or do a "sort-of market test" by polling my readers about potential slogans. Sounds like a good well thought out strategy, right? But that's not really how things work with this project/business/pipe dream of mine. Instead....I chose mine because it looked awesome on a bumper sticker.

"Not Lost, Just Wandering"

Despite the haphazard way this came about, the slogan does have a lot of personal significance to me. When I think about the concept of a person being "lost" in life, it brings me back to a conversation I had with one of my college roommates at a pivotal point in our lives. 

He had just learned that his life was about to be going through some major changes. The end result of these changes was that he would be moving out and the rest of the roommates would be going our separate ways when the lease ended. The circumstances led to one of the last meals we would all have together. We were at our favorite Chinese buffet scarfing down kung pao and sweet and sour chicken, engaged in a much deeper conversation than our usual sports, girls, or booze talk. Although much of the conversation focused on his nerves about his changing circumstances, there is a moment that has stuck with me to this day. He looked at me and said:

"My friend, I think you're lost, but when you find yourself you'll do great things."

Okay, that's not really exactly what he said, so let's dispense with the Hollywood treatment for a second. It was actually something more like, "Miller, I think you're kind of lost, but when you find yourself it'll be cool. I don't know if you'll be good in business or whatever...maybe you'll be a porn star. But when it happens..."(and then I think he just kind of trailed off). If there is ever a book or movie about my life after I'm gone, make sure they go with the first version. It's much more inspirational. 

Regardless of the actual words in the conversation, the first version is what I took out of it. For years, I have to say I considered myself "lost". I've never been quite sure what direction my life should head. This also might be why I was single as long as I was before I met Jenn. You know that standard first or second date question "where do you see yourself in five years?", well 5 year planning is not my strong suit. This might be the reason I was so dumbfounded when the VP of Marketing asked where I see myself in 2 years. I had learned to make up stories for 5 years and 10 years to get people off my back. Two years had me stumped. Two years took the concept from abstract to concrete. Two years forced a crisis of thought. 

No matter how I looked at it, I thought to be a "normal" person, I had to be able to come up with an answer to that question. I racked my brain for two weeks trying to answer the question to no avail. Then came the first trip that sparked this idea and since then it's all been based around "What's wrong with wandering?" Great things can happen when a well-equipped wanderer finds him or herself in the right position. Here we come to an important distinction. Bad things can happen to wanderers who are not well-equipped. Homelessness, addiction, and other generally terrible life conditions may await those wanderers. But if a well-equipped wanderer hadn't found himself in a calligraphy class our computer fonts might be boring, the innovative spirit that led to PCs might not have been fueled, and cell phones would be just.....well phones, not a world of information in our hands. I think most people who don't know the story probably figured out who that wanderer was. Just like that man, I don't think I've ever been lost....

Just Wandering