So here I am—many moments later—lol! Law school—it was vicious! I succumbed to my reality. I loved law—I truly did—but being a paralegal was my awakening. 

I realized, as a paralegal, that I truly loved it more than becoming a lawyer. Working in the non-profit sector for almost 15 years—you develop a passion to educate and help others. So, that’s what I did. I left the legal field, and started new beginnings at 39! Yay 😁!

So here I am, 40 years young—and ready to educate and mold many minds! 👨🏻‍🏫 🍎🙏 🙌  By the way—I’m a teacher now—and loving every moment of it! 

At a standstill in my career, but I am far from scared or worried. Worry is not of GOD. Going through a career reinvention, and I am so ready. The best is yet to come. GOOD BYE LAW SCHOOL! 🙂 What a relief, and I never thought I would say that!

Yup, it’s time for a new beginning. I’m 38, but I am not scared and far from old! Age ain’t nothin but a number baby! The lord is on my side, and I am always faithful. I am SO FAR FROM, AND WILL NEVER BE, PERFECT! But I know what is in store for me!

I am just glad my wife has my back! Having a partner that understands your trials and tribulations, is key to a career reinvention. Career reinvention is tough, but I am tired, and know what my heart wants. The heart wants what the heart wants, and we need to listen to it.

I am not ready to share this reinvention, because again, I am still in the reinvention process. All I know, is that life is too short, to waste at a job that pays you ok, or because you feel you make great money, and you will not find something better, so you need to stay complacent. I understand, it is not easy for all folks to just change their careers over night. Bills and life happen. Children are born, pets are adopted, and expenses are created–folks have real-life responsibilities.

I can say this, investment in your dreams, can start 10% at a time. That’s right! Start with 10% percent of your paycheck, and place it in a rainy day fund. Or maybe just 5%. I love to use Barclays Online Banking–link below! I am not promoting them, I am just a huge fan. Set up direct deposit, and out of sight out of mind BABY! Before you know it, you have a small nest egg to use towards your reinvention or whatever!

Dreams are what we make of them. They are essentially, just that, dreams! But no one has the right to tell you cant make those dreams become a reality. Keep on fighting that relentless fight, and never stop dreaming! REINVENTION HERE WE COME! Till next time folks.

www.banking.barclaysus.com

A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to create a blog. A blog that would help me escape from the day-to-day hectic chaos of being a full time paralegal by day, and a full time law student by night. I soon realized, that instead it became a sort of lifestyle/work/school blog, if that makes any sense—with minimal posts in the last couple of years. Well, flash forward to a new year, and so I here I am, still not done with law school, but very happy and healthy.

I had bariatric surgery, completely changed my life around, and have lost 210 pounds. Life is still tough. The human mind is even tougher. I now have a new lifestyle tool—my new stomach—so I don’t crave food like I used to. But, my mind still does. I have come to learn, that my battle with my weight is physical and—DEFENITLEY mental. Food will always be a go to for my brain, but I know that I have complete control of what I put into my body. I always did, but I don’t have such a huge dump tank to fill up—that is also accompanied by huge hunger pains—and a voice that says, “Feed Me Leo!” LOL! It sounds mean to call my old stomach a dump tank, but it really was.

I now have the ability to not feel so darn hungry, eat small meals, and have a normal and average daily calorie intake. Something else weight loss has taught me, is that, I am still exhausted after work, and I still find it hard to study. SMH 🤦🏻‍♂️! Sure my weight made me physically tired by the end of my day, but my brain gets tired too. And here I am again, venting about how exhausted I am with juggling life and my pseudo-student-life. LOL! I guess beggars really can be choosy. I took a hiatus from school, and that felt nice, but I started studying again, so I found myself with the need to blog—go figure right?

So, I bid you all adieu—until next time. Thanks for taking the time to read my shenanigans.

So life goes on outside of law school! LOL! I decided to take a break from this insane journey called law school—hence break—a healthy hiatus. Wink wink ?. Since finishing my first year of law school—again—I remained relentless as always, and I decided to take a half a year off to focus on my health.

I figured that there was no sense in striving to become an attorney while destroying my health in the process. So, I became accountable for my actions. I decided that every dang bite counts, and that only I am responsible for every bite and calorie I take in.

I started slowly, but eventually I downloaded some free apps, that would help me along my journey. After my first 23 pound weight loss (in one week), I was hooked, and nostalgia kicked in. I felt like the kid I was in high school—the one that decided he was not going to be the heaviest kid in his class anymore. The pounds started melting away. I am now at 80 pounds down, and counting. I feel awesome! The amount of energy I have is amazing.

It is not until I had such a huge weight loss, that I realized how much I have put life on hold. I forgot that I was such an adventurous person. My new found energy is AWESOME! I look forward to many more excursions, adventures, and weight loss. Cheers to lifestyle changes, and relentless goals. If I can do it, you can too!

Life today is easier, so society says. But is life really easier? At times I wonder why law school is so darn tough-then I remember, because it’s law school. Lol! Never once did I think it would be so darn tough. As a parent, husband, and full time employee I have learned that law school is vicious, and much more demanding than the latter. It’s a jealous demon that wants to keep you all to itself.

Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating, but it is one jealous endeavor that requires all of your free time. Now imagine doing that while working full time and having a family? Who does that? Me! That’s right. Like life wasn’t tough enough, I decided that I was going to become a lawyer-because that has always been my goal.

Well, getting back to my point, life is busy and tough, and who really has time to go to law school? 21st century students do that’s who. I’m no millennial that’s for sure. I’m sort of caught in this weird paradox that I call, “the generation x time zone.” Let me explain what I mean.

I come from a time where technology was booming, yet it wasn’t so much. I’m a 90s kid. Pagers and flip phones were as hi-tech as we got. Laptops were massively heavy, and the Internet-well that was a bunch of dialup mess. ?

So then comes the smartphone-era, and that’s where things got real. All of a sudden, I was emailing documents from my phone, downloading documents, faxing documents, creating PowerPoint presentations (as the smartphones progressed), and checking my social media apps on my phone. It was awesome!

How does this tie into the title of this post? I’ll tell you how. It is a perfect example of how us generation x folks thought we could keep up and add another heap of responsibility onto our already full plates.

We decided we could go back to school at night, and take on graduate careers, because some of us had to stop at undergrad and become professionals-because of life, children, and finances-and let’s face it-to pay off our student loans. I was not a full ride scholarship kind of gen x  kid either, so like many I needed to tap into student loan assistance.

So here I am now, 35 years old and finishing my first year of law school, and feeling completely burned out. I was sold. Sold into the smartphone millennial state-of-mind, but I’m no millennial, and multitasking is not that easy for me. Ok, I know I’m not in my golden years, but I’m pushing 36 this year, and I’m not 25 like your average law school student.

Maybe law school wasn’t meant to be multi-tasked, but it’s happening, and us generation x’rs are hanging in there, because we have no choice. Life goes on and time has no remorse. So to all my generation x’rs keep on trucking, and hang in there. Time is all we have and we can do it. After all, we’re 90s kids! ??

So I read that five minute walks throughout the day are healthy for me–I’ll take it. I’ve been incorporating five minute walks around my office throughout the day, and it feels great–at least four a day–link to my source provided below. Ok, so the article talks about five minute runs, but I’m taking baby steps folks. ?

For someone that used to work at a gym (years ago–I was 19–ahh nostalgia lol), I know the importance of exercise. But fighting obesity is no joke. It’s tough. We can’t quit food, like other addictions, but we can learn to manage it.

Bariatric surgery will also be an option in the future, but I must first lose weight. Why share this? Because we exist. Obesity is a reality and a national epidemic. We’re professionals, we are parents, friends, and so on, but we’re human too–and struggle with food. I have ups and downs, but I’ve decided that I can master this monster.

If I could handle full time work and school, I could take this new challenge in life. I know the success rate of Bariatrics and have seen many family members’ healths improve for the better. I am not shy, there’s no hiding my size, so this is not a sympathy post.
I’m approaching 36, and I’m learning that it’s about lifestyle changes, and being relentless. I have goals, and a long healthy life is one of them. I want to enjoy all of my future grandkids.

THIS IS A SHOUTOUT POST TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY FIGHTING OBESITY. REMEMBER YALL, WE AREN’T GOING TO BE YOUNG FORVER, SO LETS DO THIS FOR OUR HEALTH’S! ?

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5632933.html

So life wins again. As a father, how do I tell my 17 year old son I can’t watch a movie with him. I have to appreciate and cherish how blessed I am to be able to say my 17 year old son wants to watch movies with me on Friday nights.
I shall commence my study session after our movie. It will be yet another relentless weekend of sacrificing and doing my balancing acts–by being dad, husband, and law student! ??????