Articles From the Team

Don’t worry, be happy

I heard this song for the first time in ages the other evening – on Jo Whiley’s show, of all places (OK, OK – I listen to Radio 2). Four simple words, yet they resonated with me and got me thinking about my own journey into the world of recruitment.

You see, up until last month I was a practicing employment solicitor – admittedly only 1 year qualified, but leaving the law was still no easy decision. I was a late comer to the law – I thought it was always something I wanted to do. So after spending the best part of 11 years working the Lloyd’s Insurance Market in London, I took the plunge, ditched the salary, and became a student and then trainee for four years – a big life changing move.

I really enjoyed studying the law, but it soon became apparent once I was in private practice that it wasn’t doing it for me. I bided my time, thinking my outlook would improve on qualification, but unfortunately no such luck. I just did not enjoy practicing law. This began to affect my confidence (something I’d always had in abundant supply), and was starting to get me down – the Sunday evening stomach churn became a regular feature of my otherwise great weekends.

So, after plenty of soul searching, and not an insignificant number of sleepless nights, I took stock of the situation and asked myself: what is it I really want? Now, as someone who doesn’t like to leave any stone unturned, I wrote lists, I researched careers, I talked to people. Ultimately, the answer to my question was simple: I wanted to be happy.

So I refocussed, I wrote lists of the things that make me happy about my work. I won’t list them all here – it’s not important – but ultimately those attributes led me to exploring recruitment. Fast forward. I met with a number of BCLers before making my decision – everything about those encounters felt right: the people, the culture, the job, the positive attitude. I was sold – and three weeks in I’m feeling, well, happy again. I get to do a job that is suited to me, that I enjoy, that makes me happy – and bonus – I still have a link to the law!

We spend about a third of our working lives physically at work, and probably much more time mentally at work. If work is getting us down, is it any wonder that the negativity encroaches into our personal lives: affecting our sleep, personal relationships, general well being?

I’m not suggesting for one moment that if you’re unhappy with work you ditch the job and throw yourselves into financial turmoil….like becoming a student again. But isn’t it worth asking yourselves what makes you happy, and then taking steps to change things and pursue a happier you? Even small changes can have a significant impact.

If you’ve read this far and you’re thinking – “I’m happy already, thanks” – great – and I’m happy for you. But part of me would question why, if you were truly happy, you would read to the end of a blog that clearly doesn’t apply to you.

Don’t worry, be happy.

For more information contact Chris Ledwich at BCL Legal.