Real Goes Right- 10 Things I Learned After Law School

My bad it's been a while since I've posted anything. BUUUUUT school is my priority at the moment no worries though I'm still here.

I've been following this blog for a year or two now, not really sure why it's taken me this long to share it with you guys. But this post below touched on a lot of my feelings now, especially as a post grad, and more importantly as a post grad trying to get into professional school.

I thought it was kind of an encouraging post in a round about way. I felt that I wasn't the only one feeling the way I did about school (and life), being able to see others struggle and still know its going to eventually be worth it. Especially if I had an outlet in the mean time, creativity (in my case sewing, designing and art in general).

Via When Keeping it Real Goes Right

 Life after graduation has taught me a few things…namely:

1. Job Searching Sucks.
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago (insert link).  It’s actually pretty damn tedious and it makes me upset. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, after I receive my first job I have no intentions on ever applying for another job again. Every subsequent needs to come by way of recommendation.

2. Financial Aid Gives False Hope.
I started college when I was 17. I graduated from law school at 26. In those nine years, I only spent TWO years outside of school. It’s such an odd feeling to realize five digit sums of money will not be hitting my bank account three weeks after school starts. There should be a weening process. You can’t just cut me off the titty like that.

3. Staying Home Is Awesome…
As long as you can afford to.  The one month after bar prep and the exam where I stayed home and did nothing was the most relaxing month of my life. I slept all day. Played video games all night. Money was always an issue, but I bought myself some time. You know what staying home proved? I really need to make sure I save money so I can do that more often.

4. Nobody Does This Alone.
I don’t think I fully understood the purpose of networking until I finished with school. Networking has always been a dirty word to me. Whenever I hear network, I think “people I don’t really want to be friends with who I need something from who will only talk to me because they need something from me.” I learned a network can be filled with family. Friends. Supervisors. And more importantly, it can be filled with people you respect and have a relationship with OUTSIDE of just the situation I just listed before.

 5. Life Will Break You If You Let It.
This is an old lesson, but becoming more relevant by the day. Bad things will happen at the worst possible times. And just when it seems like you’re getting ready to climb out of the hole, quicksand will rain from the sky and you’ll fall even farther than you did before.  Not to be overly optimistic, but Finding Nemo’s “just keep swimming” has this nailed perfectly. All you can do is move forward and tackle one problem at a time.

6. There’s No Such Thing As “Regular” Qualified.
This, is a bit harder to swallow. My education is both a gift and a curse. I can’t work at certain places anymore because, well, they know I’d leave the first time I got a better opportunity. Conversely, the places where my degree DOES qualify me for the job, the lack of experience kills me.
It’s an odd position to be in. I’ll never be qualified if I don’t get the opportunity to work. I’ll never get the opportunity to work, if I’m not qualified. And I can’t even support myself with a lesser position until I CAN get an opportunity to work, because…they’d rather hire someone who isn’t as qualified as I am to work there. Insane.

 7. Failure Is Not An Option…It’s Mandatory.
Successful people will tell you they learned far more in failure than they did in success. I see this mentality a lot…failure “not being an option.” I’ve learned to treat failure as a necessary part of my growth.
In order to learn things I must do, it’s only fitting to learn about the things I shouldn’t do. Success breeds safety, stale ideas, and stagnation. Failure is where all the fun is. I no longer perceive failure as me losing something. I just look at it as another opportunity to learn.

8. Life Doesn’t Stop.
Another obvious one, but also relevant to my current situation. In my mind, I always go back in time and think about what I could’ve done differently. The networking events I could’ve gone to. The ass-kissing that probably would’ve served me some good. How good life was BEFORE I came to law school.
Pointless thoughts. My mind is living in the past, but my body is in the present. No matter how much I lament for not making different decisions in the past, life keeps moving forward

9. My Life Is A Movie. I’m the Producer/(Casting) Director/and Starring Actor.
I’m 26. I’ve been in school for 19 years. Eliminate the first four years of my life (when I wasn’t school age), the two year break in between FSU and NCCU, and I’ve spent my whole life planned around school. Finally being out of it was a bit of a shock. I’m finally holding the paintbrush to my life and I can paint this picture in whichever manner I’d like. I can go anywhere. Do anything. Be whoever I want. School no longer defines my life.

I do.

10. Writing Is the Most Important Thing In The World to Me.
I won’t tell you that I couldn’t care less about passing the bar. It just doesn’t matter as much as writing does. Writing is what I do.

It’s who I am.

It’s how I live.

It’s what defines me.

It occupies the most space in my mind.

I express myself with written word in a way I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express myself verbally. It consumes. It drives me. I’d love to get paid to do this, but I’d do it for free for the rest of my life. Writing is what God put me on this Earth to do. It’s my gift to the world. And I’d be a fool not to share it.

Peace.

Thanks for stopping by and definitely check out RGR's blog. LOTS of pearls of wisdom to be gleaned.

AF