Facing Change with Grace and Ease
We want our lives to be different, but we also fear change. What’s the way forward?
Years ago, as I sat in my very first class of Contracts at NYU Law School, surrounded by 100 first-year law students, panic suddenly washed over me. I had never felt such intense fear before, but it blazed through me, scorching my entire body. Sweat oozed from my pores, and my breathing quickened. It lasted maybe 5 minutes and was done.
The panic happened at the precise moment that I realized there was no turning back. Just a few weeks prior, I had left my tenure-track job at Northwestern University, packed up my belongings, and left Chicago to go to law school in New York City. I was 34, a decade older than your average law student.
I had walked away from security — what others might cynically call a “golden cage” — for an entirely new adventure. I won’t sugarcoat it: Law school was rough. It’s a grueling experience for anybody, but for me, it was compounded by the fact that I had walked away from the almost certain outcome of getting tenure and never having to worry about being fired in my life.
It also turned out to be magical. I learned a fascinating new language that has served me continuously since then. I went on to clerk for two amazing judges and then worked at a…
