Being Jah Bless

Leaving my Job as a Corporate Solicitor

I finished my job as a corporate solicitor in a law firm on Friday. And today, I am going on an adventure to find my marbles/self/passion/new career/life purpose/all of the above. My plan after law? There is no plan. 

I think sometimes knowing what you don’t want in life is a good starting point to find what you do want. Step 1 was working out that I don’t want to work as a solicitor for the rest of my life. This took a while to figure out. It was a question I never really wanted to honestly ask myself, because I was terrified of the answer. 

The truth meant starting again and that’s scary for a 33 year old with a good steady job toying with the idea of getting a mortgage. It wasn't until January this year (after a 4 year law degree, 1 year of doing entrance exams, 2 year apprenticeship and 4 years working as a qualified solicitor) that I properly asked myself the question - is this really what I want to do with my life? And the answer was a big scary NO. It doesn’t excite me or fulfil me, I am not passionate about what I do, and I am just going through the motions in my career day by day feeling that this is not really me. 

I don’t know what I do want to do, so Step 2 is to create some time and space to think and to be guided by that inner compass. First I’m going to Mallorca to do my yoga teacher training, and then I am making my way to northern Spain to walk the Camino. 

I am doing the yoga training course because I love everything to do with yoga. I love reading about the philosophy, learning about ancient gurus, living in an ashram (occasionally), eating vegan food (sometimes, when I’m not eating burgers) and developing my postures and strength. I love the mantras, the chanting, the meditation, the incense and the gongs. So this step feels natural, something I’ve always wanted to do. 

After this I’m walking the Camino de Frances, starting in Saint-Jean -Pied-de-Port walking 800km to Santiago de Compostela for however long it takes to get there. I have heard people say it can be a life changing experience. Maybe it will be, maybe it won't. I am going with an open mind looking forward to meeting other pilgrims along the way. I believe we often meet people for a reason and people can guide us, inspire us and change our perspective on life. So hopefully, the people I meet along the path will both literally guide me (as a solo walker, poor with maps) and symbolically as I search for what I want to do next. 

So this is the story so far. Steps 1 and 2 are paved out on the path that will hopefully lead me to a career that I am passionate about. The name of the blog, ‘Being Jah Bless', stems from my love of reggae and my deluded affiliation with the Rasta community. One festival I was greeting all festival goers with ‘Jah Bless!’, while my mates thought for the entire weekend I was shouting ‘Jobless!’ (which I was at the time) to everyone I met. Well, here I am again Jah Bless and this is my journey if you want to follow me. 

Update: My original blog was called “Being Jah Bless”. It followed the journey from leaving my job as a corporate lawyer to go in search of something I was interested in.  I am still writing about the never-ending journey but thankfully, I am no longer Jah Bless.  I am doing something that I love. See recent posts to read about where I am now and how I got there. Thanks for reading.