Chioma's Blog

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I’m not sure I remember thinking anything about a career at 5 years old but for sure, I can tell you that by 6, I wanted to be a lawyer. I knew it, my parents knew it, my family knew it. Everybody knew it because I wouldn’t stop talking about it. To me, lawyers were smart, sharp and had the blessed reputation of always being impeccably dressed. There was also the Nigerian (and I guess worldwide) stereotype that lawyers were liars and some people even claimed that lawyers were not buried normally, they had to be buried face down. I didn’t care. I was a sharp kid, very bold and intelligent. I was going to be a lawyer, end of story.

I did become a lawyer. At 16, only 10 years later, I got into the best university in Nigeria (dissenters can hug transformer 🤗) to study law. By 23, after 5 years of college, one gap year working in a law department,and one year of law school, I was called to the Nigerian Bar, the largest Bar in Africa! I was a barrister and solicitor of the Nigerian Supreme Court!

Unfortunately, by that time, I knew I was never going to be lawyer. I’m not sure when the shift came but by my second year as a law student in college, I came to terms with the fact that law was a childhood dream. It fit my personality, everybody agreed and I stuck to it with no room for doubt or change. And by the time I knew it wouldn’t work, there was time to not waste 7 years of my life pursuing it till the end but I was scared! I was scared my parents would be disappointed, they were so proud when I got in! So I stayed. Finished university. Spent my gap year doing more law stuff. Went to law school. Got called to the bar. Spent my compulsory national service year working in a state ministry of justice as a junior litigation counsel.

And then when all this was done, I walked away and I have not looked back since.

People always ask me if I ever think about going back to law. The answer is no. I don’t miss it. I do think about what my life would have been like if I had remained in law, probably more money. I don’t know, I don’t really care.

Now, I’m in a completely different field. When lawyers talk, sometimes it sounds familiar, but a lot of times, it sounds like gibberish too. I’m now a layman, and when I need legal help, I call my old classmates 😂.

I love my current field. Take this post as your sign to switch lanes if that is something you have been thinking of doing. Trust me, it’s okay and it’s all going to work out just fine.

And yeah, your family will still love you. I can’t believe I thought my dad would be mad at me.

Oh well…

Okay bye!

Chioma.