The Unhappy Lawyer
Once upon a time I knew a lawyer who hated being a lawyer. Actually, I’ve known many. But this particular lawyer was an especially sad case.
The individual in question came from an immigrant family who believed in hard work and sacrifice. They expected each generation to achieve what their parents had not had the opportunity to achieve. “Expected” may not be the correct word. “Demanded” is closer.
So in Pedro’s case, the options were lawyer, doctor, or priest. Given that he fainted at the sight of blood, the options narrowed to two. And further given that celibacy didn’t appeal to him, there was only one box left to check. So, off to law school it was.
Fortunately, Pedro was pretty bright, so he was able to get the marks necessary to graduate from law school (memorization will get you through the exams, even if you don’t fully understand the concepts), and then the Bar Admission. Connections within the immigrant community found an articling position and then a job. So now we had a lawyer. But not a happy one.
As it turns out, Pedro hated confrontation. Deeply hated confrontation. And he wasn’t much of a wordsmith. And here he was in an industry where wordcraft is your bread and butter and mudwrestling is what we’re paid to do. Poor Pedro.
But the story has a happy ending. Pedro’s parents, who ran a bakery, were getting too old to keep the place going, and couldn’t find a buyer or a successor who met their high standards. And the idea of shutting down their ethnic bakery shop was killing them.
At first Pedro just went into the shop to help them out, getting up at four in the morning to fire up the ovens and get the dough started. Momma and Pappa were glad for the help, and little by little, bit by bit, began to allow Pedro to take over more and more of the business. You know how the story ends.
Pedro was in a place of joy. He loved his customers, and they loved him. His breads and his pastries were the talk of the town, he was featured in a regional magazine and invited onto TV shows. Catalonian fusion, who’d have guessed? His creativity and his passion had full rein, and he was happier than he had been since, well, since he was a little boy helping in the bakery.
Oddly enough, before long he was making more money than the practice of law ever gave him. And even his doctor commented that Pedro’s blood pressure was just a fraction of what it used to be. And he never took a box of files home with him.
As Pedro discovered, it’s never too late to find your Giftings!
One of my passions is the mid-career professional who can’t stand another day of doing what they do, and has no idea how to turn things around. Do you need to give me a call?