Hi, I’m new here, and wanted to start by saying that I am very happy I found this community of like-minded people.
That being said I just wanted to vent in a way I can’t with other classmates and friends who have very different views on working in a late stage capitalism america and would simply tell me to stop complaining or get over it or that I shouldn’t have gone to law school in the first place lol.
I’m studying for the bar exam right now (it’s in 6 days, send good vibes and prayers). When I started this journey all doe-eyed and eager to “change the world” I was excited at the thought of becoming a lawyer and making good money. I didn’t know then what the reality in the legal field actually is.
Hearing from graduated upperclassmen who are working as attorneys now every single one of them is miserable – long hours, toxic bosses, office politics, missing out on life events and time with loved ones etc. And I don’t think these are flaws unique to the legal field (though they may be more severe). This is the case in all well-paying white collar corporate America jobs.
I have worked at least part time since undergrad until I was unemployed during COVID. Unemployment was the most fun I’ve ever had. There is such a unique joy to your time, your most valuable and limited resource, being devoted to what YOU want to do. Looking at working conditions outside the fishbowl for the first time made me realize how fucked up this all really is? We work our ass off 5 days a week, a minimum of 40 hours a week, often get treated like shit by bosses or coworkers. We’re too tired when we get home to really value our remaining free time and too busy catching up on chores and errands we missed during the week to really take advantage of the measly 48 hours we get to ourselves (if your boss even lets you have weekends, some law firms don’t). And all this just for majority of us to barely get by and live paycheck to paycheck? Even if you get paid well, what is the point of all that money if you are never given the time to take advantage of it and travel the world with your family or something? You can’t really put a price on your mental health or your limited time on this earth. It’s sad to think that this will be our life up until retirement if we are lucky enough to be able to have a retirement.
I’m studying my ass off right now for this exam… and all for that? That’s the fate that awaits us on the other side of academia? The “successful lifestyle” we were promised after taking on mountains of debt just doesn’t sound worth any amount of money.
All that being said, I will still take this exam. I will apply to jobs and hope I am not treated too much like shit wherever I end up. I will do what needs to be done because this is the reality we live in and bills and loans need to be paid. But at the very least, I am happy to find a community of people who also realize what a scam working and capitalism really is. Thank you for giving me a platform to just let it all out.