I’m often asked for advice on how to approach a career transition when people are familiar with my journey, which I shared in Part 1 of this post. Over the last several weeks, I’ve received a fascinating number of such calls. Apparently, being forced into isolation and having some additional time for quiet reflection (or not-so-quiet reflection if you’re quarantined with kids 🤪) gives us an opportunity to consider and evaluate the path we are on and whether it is still the right one. As a follow-up to my personal story, I wanted to share some valuable lessons I’ve learned through my own career transitions that I hope might be helpful to others considering a move of their own.

I used to get the question at least once a week: Do you miss being a lawyer? Do you think you’ll ever go back to law? When do you think you’ll go back to law? Are you happy with your decision? The questions, I know, came from a genuine place of curiosity and, more often than not, love and concern. And each inquirer had their own underlying motivation for asking. Here’s the thing. They were fair questions. Inside of four years, I had finished law school, launched into my career as a corporate lawyer, bought a house, had not one but two babies, started a nonprofit initiative, and had finally decided I could no longer make my then 13-year marriage to my high school sweetheart work. When I announced just two years later that I was now leaving a career I had invested so many years and hella dollars into, in hindsight, I really can’t blame people for thinking I had finally lost it. But I hadn’t. While my decisions at the time may have seemed erratic or unthoughtful - impulsive even - they were far from it.