Do As I Say and Not As I Do

I am one of those people who always give advice—solicited or not. And now at law school, I actually found a position where I am paid to advise people about everything ranging from studying for finals to handling long distance relationships. The most ironic part of my position has become the fact that the advice that I give the most is the thing that I do not follow. I am a pro at telling people not to stress about finding a job (it will be ok, everyone finds something, things always works out), but I never do it myself.

I am currently starting the process of applying for judicial clerkships for after graduation. Partly because I know it would be a great experience, partly because I am a masochist. Writing cover letters, trying to stand out amongst thousands of applicants who are probably exactly like me, figuring out where to apply--it brings back bad flashbacks of the Fall Recruitment process that I sort of participated in last year.

At first I was a little overwhelmed. I thought I started too late, I thought I didn’t have enough time, I thought my GPA was good but not amazing, I thought about how I should have done a judicial externship after my first year, I thought about how much I hate writing cover letters… I just thought too much about everything.

Now that I have all my references lined up and talked to the clerkship counselor at my school, everything seems more manageable and I feel a lot better. Who knows if I will land my dream clerkship, or any. But seeing as how I’ve fared pretty decently in the continuous applications cycles that I have participated in for, what seems like the last decade of my life, I am telling myself: Don’t stress. It will be ok. Everyone finds something. Things always works out.

I might be reciting this a lot soon.