Halfway Point

This week marks the halfway point of the semester. Last year at this time, I was consistently working until midnight to finish a report promised to our client's board of directors; now, I am consistently studying until midnight. In the past month and a half my vocabulary has changed; I now understand terms like "we affirm in part but reverse on X's claim of promissory estroppel" and "A had record title to Lot 1 but B has adversely possessed Lot 1 with accrual beginning in Year X". My eyesight has deteriorated from the hours spent reading case opinions, even though I didn't think it can get any worse. I am constantly analyzing situations to determine if a duty of care has been breached, thus giving rise to an action in negligence (and possible money damages). Yep, I am looking at the world totally differently. But more than just the knowledge that I've learned in the classroom, I'm learning the difference in living to work and working to live.

I've had a lot conversations about this lately: Are we meant to work to make a living or live for our work? I've been in law school for not even two months but one thing that I know is that after this experience I want to work to live. Now I know that I am only wading in the shallow end of the pool right now, but I have three years of studying ahead of me, not to mention a banking account that is thousands of dollars in the red. I don't want to invest myself in something that will merely get me from weekend to weekend.

So many people complain about their job. I've been there. Not everyone has landed their dream job, I understand. But that doesn't mean it's not out there. Sometimes our current position is just a spring board to get us there; we just have to keep jumping for it. I don't believe that people just luck into dream jobs. I do believe, though, that sometimes people don't want to risk actually taking a chance to find it because it means losing a security. I'm writing this more for myself than anyone else as an encouragement not to settle. I want to spend the significant portion of my waking hours doing something that is fulfilling to me. Slowly, I'm beginning to understand what that is, and I think I'm in the right place to get me there.

But first things first, finish the first semester.