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Law Student, Law Grad Don’t Settle For Something That is Safe

February 15, 2022

Law student or recent law grad, don’t settle for something safe.

My friend, Euan Semple shares this from author, John O’Donahue’s Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom Modern World.

“I think that we are infinitely greater than our minds and we are infinitely more than our images of ourselves. One of the sad things today is that so many people are frightened by the wonder of their own presence. They are dying to tie themselves into a system, a role, or to an image, or to a predetermined identity that other people have actually settled on for them. This identity may be totally at variance with the wild energies that are rising inside in their souls. Many of us get very afraid and we eventually compromise. We settle for something that is safe, rather than engaging the danger and the wildness that is in our own hearts.”

Euan apt blog title, “Settling.”

With the Internet came opportunities the likes of which we have never had before.

We can meet people – online and face to face – we would never have dreamed of meeting before.

We can build intimate relationships founded on trust and real and authenticate engagement.

We can build reputations in areas we’re passionate about and filled with people who inspire us.

Directories, resumes and elite degrees have become secondary to a desire to learn, persistence, care and passion.

We have the opportunity to leave the world knowing that we have made a difference in others lives.

Getting out of bed every morning for the last forty years, whether first as a trial lawyer or later as a legal tech entrepreneur, I’ve been as scared as the next guy about chasing windmills, versus doing something safe.

The only thing I found scarier though was tying myself to a system, a role, an image or a predetermined identity that other people settled on for me.

That identity is, as O’Donahue puts it, totally at variance with the wild energies my soul has rising inside.

Law student or recent law grad, don’t settle for something that is safe.