Dear Myself,
Hey Self, it’s Yourself from 2022.
I know this may seem a little spooky to hear from your future self, but I wanted to let you know that this whole “leave the law” thing really has worked out. We are doing really well right now in our alternative, non-law job. We can’t even believe it’s happening.
Well, we can believe it. Because, we’re living it. It’s been 4 years since you decided to leave the law in 2018 and we wanted to write you this short note to say thank you for the courage to leave.
Now don’t get me wrong, we are not sitting on a beach all day, all year.
It’s not all roses. We don’t just call it in each day.
We work … we work very hard.
And yes … sometimes we work weekends.
And there are still deadlines, and stress, and office politics, and angry customers.
And we deal with a lot of issues and projects that are new to us, so we’re often initially unclear what is the best first step.
And we have had a steep learning curve, and have had to start as a beginner in some areas (Took us a while, but we’re actually very well versed in “logistics and supply chain analytics” now!)
And things change often, it’s fluid …which is new to us – you know, we attorneys aren’t the best with change :). In fact, the job we’re in now isn’t the first job we had since we left the law. Actually it’s our third “non-law” job (I just realized something – our current resume now has more alternative, non-law jobs on it now, then it has lawyer jobs!)
But even with all of these challenges and steps we’ve taken, the great thing is that we enjoy our job. We are actually good at it. Our “legal” skills have actually been transferrable, and are a great fit for this role.
And we feel supported. We don’t sit in an office for 8 hours a day in silence behind a Word doc. We have a team of collaborative people around us that actually want us to succeed! We meet (they call it “scrumming”) and share ideas and brainstorm. They actually encourage us to think big. Success mixed with failure is a badge of honor around here (it means we’re trying!)
And our job has meaning. We help people. We provide value. Our day-to-day work matters. We believe in the mission of our company. I mean … when things get tight and hard and stressful, we just have to think about why we are all doing what we’re doing, and it motivates us.
Overall, we just don’t worry as much. Even though there is a lot to do, we don’t have nearly as much anxiety. We don’t think of ourselves as a “fraud” like we did as a lawyer. We are … good at what we do.
We like ourselves again. We feel cool. We are valued.
We have this new quote framed on our standup desk. It’s from the martial artist Bruce Lee, and it says “Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.”
I now really get what that means. And it’s true.
Our life now isn’t really any easier since we left the law. But we have the confidence and skills and purpose and alignment and strength to really get it all done. And that strength makes everything seem a lot easier.
I’ll end here, I’ve been babbling. But I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you to you. You had this courage in 2018 to make the change that we did. We would not be where we are today if you hadn’t of taken that first babystep.
I am indebted to you. Looking forward to seeing you in person.
Sincerely,
Your 2022 Self