bob, you need a plan
Happy 2011. Tomorrow I return to London. I am not looking forward to the trip, as I never look forward to the act of travelling, especially when a full work-day and three weeks of work await me on the other end. I didn't really have any digestive problems at home, despite not restricting my diet in any way and eating way more food than I normally would. I expect all my problems will recommence on my return to work despite a healthier diet, which leads me to believe that all my digestive problems are caused by stress from work, but at least I am finally starting to get to the bottom of it.
Mom has given me six months to come up with a plan for myself, like what I want to do with myself. I didn't see the need to impose a timeline on the process of self discovery/actualisation, but I agree it is something I need to do and maybe even should do at least in preliminary stages before I am in a position to act on any such plan.
Here are a few options (I am not biased toward any of these options and do not consider any of them, in their purest forms, to be possible or realistic options, with perhaps the exception of 1, which is closest to my current situation):
1. Continue working at Freshfields. Cost: $0, income: $250k+. Most likely this gravy train would end at the point where I am not willing/able to sign my soul to the firm as a partner and have to leave (assuming I could even tolerate it for that long). My stomach problems will persist, and I will most likely grow more miserable.
2. Go to art school/become an artist. Cost: $150k, income: $10k(?). This is not a feasible idea at all. The best way for me to fill the art-void where necessary is to commission pieces, which requires an income. So, 1 is in a way the best way to realise 2.
3. Go to grad school in linguistics/become a linguist. Cost: $0 (this plan assumes a full tuition scholarship and a stipend of approximately $20k/year), income: $20k as a student (let's say four years), perhaps $60-80k on graduation (assuming I could get a job). There are plenty of unknowns in this plan, and it would require heavy time now on developing a feasible and worthwhile research program and preparing an application. The earliest I could start a program would be autumn 2012.
4. Move to Saginaw and clerk/move into criminal/general law. Cost: $100k (for moving, buying a house, leasing a car, etc.), income: $30-40k. Life would be less stressful work-wise, and I could get a nice house, but I'd live in Saginaw, which would be good for being close to my family, but it's hard to say how it would be for quality of life overall.
Suggestions for other options are welcome. Obviously these options could be modified slightly, like being a corporate minion in Chicago rather than London, which would decrease income but which might marginally also decrease work-stress. The reality is, I think, it is absolutely best for me to stick out my current job for as long as I can (assuming the job has a natural end in, let's say, at most six years), but that also seems like the most challenging route. An immediate conclusion is that I will not be making any drastic changes any time soon, but I do seem to be going in circles at the moment and will need to conclude either that I must develop a particular plan and act on it or that I don't need a plan because the current operations are fine. From what I gather from messages from Charity of late, she is in a dark place right now, so she will be well prepared to talk about these things on my return (especially since she will have been up all night after having worked all weekend--who could possibly want a new plan in those circumstances?). Stay ever vigilant-- /B/