When I was in the middle of my 2L year in law school, I found out that I had a brain tumor and needed emergency neurosurgery. To say I was terrified would be putting it mildly. But I put one foot in front of the other, and the surgery went fine; however, I had to withdraw from most of my classes that semester and delay graduation. Then, the week before I graduated and began studying for the bar exam, I found out the brain tumor was regrowing, and I would need surgery again sometime in the future. Life didn’t care that I was about to start studying for the most important exam of my life . . . which I failed the first time, by the way. Turns out, getting news that your brain tumor is regrowing was a bit of a distraction. After failing the bar exam, I found out I wouldn’t need surgery right away because the tumor was stable. I was able to devote myself to actually focusing on the bar exam, and I passed the second time around.
The moral of the story is that things will happen; you don’t live in a bubble. There will always be something out of your control that is going to have an impact on your ability to focus, get your work done, and be the best attorney you can be. You just need to be able to deal with it in a way that works for you.
Prioritize what’s important to you, whether that’s family, friends, travel, or a significant hobby. Figure out what you can’t live without, and then work on how you can best balance your career with that. The best thing I got out of my brain tumor ordeal was perspective. I was in my mid-20s when that happened; don’t let yourself get older without looking at what’s truly important in your life. I knew I wanted to be close to my family, and I didn’t want to move far away for a job. When I failed the bar exam, I wasn’t happy, but I also knew it was not the deciding factor in whether I was a decent human being and successful at life.
Your failures don’t define you, and what happens outside of your professional bubble is just as important as what happens inside that bubble. Whether you’re just starting out as an attorney or just venturing out on your own as a solo practitioner for the first time, it’s so important to remember that life will still throw things at you unexpectedly. Sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad. Treat them as learning situations, though. Figure out what’s truly important to you. If you’re just starting out, it’s tempting to let your job consume you. And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but you need to be prepared to deal with life’s punches—and know that they will come—and understand that you may need to prioritize things in your life differently. That perspective shift is eye-opening, yet one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned.
