Truer Words Have Never Been Spoken

After reading Mike's post about Opinionista's last post I skipped down to the "O's" on my blog reading list. At the risk of being harassed even more then I already am in the comments by Mike I have to say what he highlighted is really at the heart of why so many lawyers (and law students) are unhappy.

Opinionista writes:

Faith, or the key to man’s (and woman’s) happiness, is simply the state of being ultimately concerned. Concerned with what? Something that truly deserves it. If you spend life being ultimately concerned with things that are not worthwhile, you’ll end up in a state called “existential disappointment.”

That is so true and so well written it really hit me. My way of releasing is to blog and poke fun at what I see at the office and at school because honestly, if you can't realize that a lot of laywers priorities and worries are extremely fucked up, then you live in a constant state of stress, discontent and depression. There comes a point in time when you have to ask yourself if a client is really more important then 5, 10, and even 20 more hours a week with your friends and family. When you think about what you should really be concerned about in life and if putting in extra hours at the office on Sunday is really going to make a difference in your quality of life when you're 60, 70, or 80 I think it's clear that many lawyers and other professionals put way too much emphasis on things they shouldn't and then are unhappy about the outcome.

Is it easy for me to sit here at the age of 22 and say that people shouldn't be so concerned with these things, sure it's not like I have a family to support. However, there comes a point in time when you have to ask, isn't $300K a year enough? Do I need to put 340 hours a month in at the office? Couldn't I survive on $250K a year? When you put it like that it seems ridiculous to give up time with loved ones for the sake of a client who most likely thinks you're fucking them over and talks badly about you (or at the least makes lawyer jokes).

I know I was nowhere near as eloquent as Melissa was in addressing all the unhappiness in the legal community, that's why she has a book deal and I don't. My point is that if people would just sit back and think about what is really important to them they'd be a lot happier. I know as a perfectionist it can be hard for me to just let go of things at work, but everytime I do I end up happy I did.