Life on furlough

What a rollercoaster. 

In fact, I’d describe it as more like the full theme park experience.

the anticipation & apprehension as you approach it

the expense (unless funded)

the fun in planning what you’ll do with your time & excitement of something different

the nerves around risk taking

the questioning of your decisions

the promises you make to yourself (and running out of time to fulfil them all)

wishing you were back in your safe zone

and wanting to do it all again when you leave…

all whilst not really knowing when you’ll next be back.

I’ve looked back over my adult years. If I recall correctly, my time spent on furlough has been the only time in my life where I’ve had no ‘employee’ responsibility for a sustained period of time. What a remarkable and peculiar situation to be in as a professional. 

As my time on furlough comes to a close, there are many questions I’m asking myself:

Have I used my time wisely, or has it just passed me by? 

Should I have done more, less, or allocated it differently?

Have I sunken into an unrealistic lifestyle? 

and the most concerning..

Am I still a good lawyer? 

These may be irrational (I’ve kept my head above the water, looked after myself and achieved an awful lot) but still they swim around my mind.

Through focussing on IHP during this time, albeit not-for-profit, I’ve had a taster of what it would be like to work for myself. The biggest lesson that furlough has taught me is that you don’t need to search for motivation to do what you love. It just is. 

Just like a theme park, everyone experiences furlough differently. 

Unfortunately mine has left me with more questions than answers. 

I hope that’s ok?