The Next Step

Sometimes I feel stuck in the future, something that has been both a boon and a burden over the years. While I come up with interesting things to do, I often worry over future crises that will never take place and spend time ruminating on dozens of “projects” I’d love to do or things I’d love to accomplish, but quickly move on to other projects before I get the chance to follow through on the first ones.

Nevertheless, after spending a year clerking for the court of appeals, I’m starting to think about what the next step will be for me. I could stay in town and find work as a lawyer, which is probably what everyone expects of me at this point. Hey, it’s probably what I’ve expected for myself for the last year or so.

But an inspiring conversation with a good friend—coincidentally on the first day of the new year—has made me want to dig deeper for answers to the question of what I want to do next. Consequently, I’ve made it my goal to shut out as many of the drains on my free time as possible during this month and spend that time instead researching and contemplating “the next step.”  During this great brainstorming session, I allowed myself to put anything I want on the table, whether it relates to what I want to do, where I want to live, where I want to work, who I want to surround myself with, etc.  The results, while general, were interesting, and point me in a direction that, once I put it down on “paper,” doesn’t surprise me all that much.  First, here are a (very) few of my observations during this period of self-study:

• I’ve always been interested in language. I speak French and some Spanish. I’ve made some forays into learning Arabic, though I haven’t had any formal education.
• I love to travel and meet new people and interact with different cultures.
• I enjoy the legal work I do and would like to continue working in a legal or policy-related field.
• I love Tucson, but I feel it has outlived its ability to help me advance my career and personal goals.  I’d like to move on to a more world-class city.
• I want to avoid spending more money on education, if possible, but I don’t want to let an aversion to spending money prevent me from seeking more education if it’s necessary to what I want to do. If I decide that pursuing a master’s is really going to be necessary, though, I will seek out scholarships and grants more aggressively than I did as an undergraduate or law student.

So, I’ve tentatively concluded I’d like to transition into a career in foreign policy, international relations, or international law.  Of course, this is such a general conclusion as to be almost no conclusion at all. I don’t really know what the next step is in pursuing such a career since my education has limited usefulness in terms of concrete application to foreign-policy issues. Still, undaunted, I think I’ll dedicate the next few posts to the steps I’ll take toward figuring out: first, this is even a viable transition (or if I should just content myself with becoming a public defender or something), and second, assuming it is viable, how to make it happen.

I’d love to hear your feedback, particularly (though not only) if you work in any of the fields I’ve mentioned above or have pointers for how to make this transition.

Advertisement