Do you even like being an attorney?

Personal blog time...

People keep telling me I should have gone into psychology. Two people said it just yesterday.  Then, last night while at a media event, a lady I've known for about two or so years told me I don't seem happy being an attorney.  She said it took someone else to tell her what I do because I never revealed that I practice law. I had to think about what she said. I really never told her that was what I do.

Well usually when I saw her out, I had on my blogger/writer hat, and I try not to mix that hat with the practicing law hat. I also don't like to put "attorney" in front of my name. People like doing it for me though. LOL

I really don't usually tell people what I do when I meet them. Typically, because it is not that important to me.   The title, I mean. What I do is important to me. I think when people lead with what they do, they forget who they are. I am not Attorney CM (well I am on my business cards...), I am CM who happens to be an attorney.

Sometimes it is difficult for me to wrap my head around what other people expect from me when they learn what I do. It is funny. When I was out dating, I decided to not tell men what I did for a living. It always seemed to come with certain expectations. I do not like being placed in a box. There is so much more to me than anything I do or anything I have accomplished.

People see a title and think you are supposed to fit some stereotypical role. That is not me at all. I don't hide the fact that I'm an attorney, I just don't boast about it. It is what I decided I wanted to do when I was six years old. But it was for a reason. I wanted to become a civil rights attorney because I read about Thurgood Marshall in a book at the library. (I started reading when I was three years old.)

I figured if he could be the first Black Supreme Court Justice, I could be one too...eventually. I really wanted to help people and work to level the playing field. My whole purpose in practicing law was never to make money or to have a certain status. (I need to rethink some of that! HA!) I mean, it would be nice, but I seriously do it for the purpose of helping people.

Is being an attorney what I expected? Yes and NO. Am I always thrilled with the day to day duties? Absolutely not...and sometimes it gets on my nerves. Will I ever stop being an attorney? HECK NO! I do get tired sometimes. At times I get stressed out. I have even dropped a few tears along the way.

Would I change anything about being an attorney? YEP! You are darn skippy! LOL

But honesty...like relationships...you define the terms. I get to decide what being an attorney means to me. No one else can define that for me, no matter how much they would like to do so. I am my kind of attorney. I'm not a shark. I'm not a paid liar. I'm not sleazy. I'm not money hungry. I am compassionate. I am determined. I am tough. I am loving. I am all of those things.

But I'm not what you see on TV by any means. LOL.