Significant Career Lesson From An Advocate At A Policy Advocacy Nonprofit

The lesson is that the place of our greatest pain can be the place of our greatest impact. Where you have been wounded – emotionally, psychologically, even physically, socially, or professionally – those are the places where difficulty in our lives teaches us something. It gives us a sense of not just empathy, but a sense of wisdom that you can only get through suffering.

When you go through difficulty, if handled properly, it can be a place of victory. This means taking it in, letting it not define you, but acknowledging it and being honest about it. Bringing in community to help you through it will transform a hurtful and grievous place into something positive.

This might sound abstract, and it is. If I had another hour, I could give you five or six examples. But I will tell you one. When I was in law school, we had to do a big writing project our first year called an appellate brief. This means you are appealing to the next level of court, asking them to change or uphold a previous decision. It’s a long report where you argue how the law needs to be applied or how a previous decision was wrong.

This was the hardest writing assignment I had done in a long time because I had taken a break from school. I started law school at 34, having last been in school at 27. Some skills you take for granted do wear off, so this report was intimidating. It was the week right before the pandemic erupted in 2020. Many of my peers were on spring break, but the paper was due after.

I hadn't finished the paper, so I couldn't go on spring break. I had just been through a breakup, and my writing partner, a classmate, had also been through a breakup. We were both struggling. I remember thinking, "I hate this project so much." That hate and disappointment stemmed from a lot of stress; I was angry and frustrated.

But here's the cool thing: I got through the writing project. I stayed up all night in the law school, working with my partner, and even slept there for a few hours. I had to do an all-nighter. I remember turning it in and thinking it was probably the worst writing project I had ever submitted. I felt like a failure.

We ended up going pass/fail for that assignment. I didn't do badly, but I didn't do great. It wasn't as bad as I feared. The really cool thing is that I was able to use that experience as a foundation for competing for the school in moot court. Moot court is a competition where you pretend to argue before an appellate judge.

Because I had gone through that experience, even though it was the thing I hated most and vowed never to do again, I was able to get a spot on the moot court team. My oral advocacy skills are better than my writing skills. Moot court ended up being my best experience of law school because I shone in the areas where I am good, like speaking and presentations.

It's funny how the thing I said I would never do again, the experience I hated and found frustrating, ended up being an open door. I had to do that to be able to do something else that was fun and fulfilling. You just never know where your place of great pain will turn into something beautiful. You have to trust and persevere, but don't do it alone – do it in community.