There is nothing inherently wrong with my job as a lawyer. In fact, for several years, I really felt that it was interesting and intellectually challenging. On the other hand, coming into work was a wonderful way to play adult and pretend that I knew all the answers that really mattered. Putting on expensive suits, traveling all over the world, representing important clients, knowing the location of expensive restaurants, etc…were all just a way for me to tie additional knots in an ever-expanding invisible chain of hopeless materialism. For a while there, I was just too busy having a glass of expensive pinot to notice that I was losing my life.
And then I started getting…well…bored. The mind-numbing effects of sitting in front of a computer for 12, 13, 14 hours a day 6, sometimes 7 days a week making very rich people even more rich definitely caught up with me. Even worse were the times that I actually was able to go away on vacation. After spending a couple of weeks a year doing what I truly love most (hiking, mountain biking and climbing, getting lost in the middle of foreign cities with only my perceived decency and sense of adventure to guide me) ONLY TO get back to staring at that fucking computer again was infuriating.
So here I am. Making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in a job that infuriates me and gets me no closer to fulfilling my potential.
Simplicity Meets the Enemy
The way I see it, I need to take advantage of my current salary until I can do the following:
1. Dispose of my townhouse.
2. Get rid of my existing consumer debt.
3. Arrange to sell/give away most of my possessions.
4. Have enough saved so that I can earn a certain amount a year in interest.
Timeline
The plan at this point is to continue working until December 31, 2009 before giving notice. It’s quite possible that this date may change as things progress. I may meet my goals more quickly. Or I may just be so exasperated with work that leaving early will be my only option. We shall see.
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