Old dreams vs. new dreams
When I was applying for law school, my dream was to be a partner in a Wall Street law firm. Then, once I made partner, I’d set up my own boutique M&A law practice.
Ahhh, the dreams of a 20-something college student future planning and future-proofing the next 15 years of her life.
While writing this today feels CRINGE … you may have had a similar dream when applying to law school…
I have a confession: I am SO glad that dream didn’t work out.
I would have been absolutely miserable working for someone else. In fact, I only made it 3 years in corporate America. I realized quickly that I’d be happier and wayyyy more successful working for myself... total no brainer.
I ditched that dream and got a new dream. It’s worth mentioning that I didn’t give this dream up willingly, I was forced out of that dream ... thanks to the market crashing in 2008. I definitely didn’t plan it, but I did benefit from it.
Recently on a work retreat, I was talking to a newish graduate from Boston College School of Law. She told me she went to law school to work in immigration—she was passionate about the legal issues affecting immigrants, and that passion kept her motivated through those tough moments in law school.
After graduating, she had a job for 2 years in an immigration legal aide office. She spent 2 years thinking she was fighting the good fight and doing good work. But the reality is that the system was working against her and she was exhausted. It didn’t matter how many hours she spent working, she wasn’t going to fix the system. She told me that she quit, and got a job as an associate in an estate planning practice.
She has normal hours, she gets paid more, but she felt an insane amount of guilt for leaving behind her previous dream.
If I can be honest ... this new dream is probably going to work out much better for this young-ish associate. You’re probably nodding your head in agreement as well.
Now that I’ve shared 2 different people’s sets of dreams: let’s turn the tables.
Are there dreams that you are holding on to? Dreams that are maybe holding you back? Dreams that are preventing you from having new dreams, maybe better dreams?
Listen in to this week’s podcast episode: