Thanks for your thoughts on Kevin's thread. I thought I would quickly respond on my thread and expand later. I have to be at school to take care of a few things in a bit.
I went to school yesterday to finalize everything and my advisor gave me much of the same advice you gave on Kevin's thread. The only difference being she thought it was a very smart move to complete the paralegal program.
I don't shy away from responsibility and having an "important" job certainly is not a deterrent for me as I have clients from all around the world that depend on me to assist them in creating the foundation of their business. I am of the school of thought no job is more "important" than another. A counter clerk at a fast food joint has responsibility just as a doctor would have. The responsibility might be different in scope but one isn't "better" than the other, just very different. I have a good friend that is an attny in another state (not in family law) and he asked me if I was nuts to even consider being a paralegal because the workload is so heavy. I actually found his comments rather offensive as he said paralegals are grunts and being an attny is much better.
My advisor did ask me why I chose this route as I certainly (in her opinion after a few very brief phone calls, reviewing my transcripts and meeting with her) would be a viable candidate to pursue law school. I was upfront with her as I will be with you. I do not like school and the idea of being in a classroom for another "long haul" is not a pleasant thought to me. I understand (obviously!) when one wants to pursue a certain career path education is necessary. It has nothing to do with the workload or the responsibility of school. I personally DO NOT enjoy sitting in a classroom. I did *very* well in college the first time around. Not because I am "extra smart" or special. I put myself through college and if I was paying for it then I required myself to do well. Not liking school is not an excuse to not do well. I wasn't miserable because I was broke or working my fingers to the bone waitressing to pay for school. That was fine. I actually LOVED what I was learning in school but I hate being "trapped" in a classroom.
I actually almost said screw it y'day when I was there taking care of some business. I had flashbacks of being locked in a cube for 8 hours a day when I worked my corp. job (locked in a cube, locked in a classroom.. UGH!).
I do think I will ditch my original plan to pursue another four year degree in legal studies after really talking to my advisor. At this time my goal is to finish the paralegal program. While it may not seem like a big deal to anybody else, three semesters vs. six semesters is a HUGE thing to me. I am very excited but I am also amazed I am going back to a classroom voluntarily!
Pending me getting as physically sick as I was last year I NEVER start something I do not plan to finish. Worse case scenario my health fails me, I would still finish even if I had to take one class a semester.
I understand family law is draining. I certainly understand that from a client point of view. I have thought long and hard if I actually could listen to the BS everyday as I know how much BS (and crying!) my attny had to listen to. The workload doesn't frighten me, the responsibility doesn't frighten me the ability to detach from the work does. There are a few other areas of law that do peak my interest and I know a paralegal has many options. Paralegals don't just work in law firms as you said and that is *very* appealing to me.
My sister went to nursing school, became a nurse and worked as a nurse for several years. A few years ago she went back to school and now is a med tech in a stat lab. She loves it. She loves her job. She is now itching to go back to school again. I think she would be a student for the rest of her life if she could. She LOVES being in a classroom and would take every science class she could at as many school as she could simply because she loves science and learning about it. To me, the idea of being in school is a chore let alone taking classes "just for fun"!
This is a huge leap for me. I have had total freedom of my schedule, what jobs I want to take or turn down and all the other perks of self employment. Returning to such a rigid structure is very frightening to me. When I say rigid structure I do not mean the workload, I mean the "be here at 8am" "sit here for 1.5 hours"... it's all so unpleasant to think about!
So I had to STOP thinking and start doing. The responsibility of any sort of job does not deter me at all. It's what I have to do to get there that is a major turn off to me. My attny contacted me a while ago about a legal assistant job he knew of and I really thought about taking it. While I don't have any legal experience as a "worker" (just as a very anal client!) I do have the general scope of skills to be a LA and could easily learn the particulars (as anybody could).
I am beyond excited about what I can do beyond school. I am excited to be doing something different and new that I do think I have a passion for. My biggest fear is completing (the day to day structure of SCHOOL) what I need in order to get there.
