TCLA turns five today.
I’m proud that the business has been alive for this long.
I see the first few years as the hardest years. I carried baggage with me when I entered the legal profession and it took me a really long time to become comfortable with who I was. In fact, it was probably only in the last year that I was able to unpack the pressure I was putting on myself to be the ‘person I wanted to be’. It was only when I started openly talking about my difficulties that I began to be kinder to myself.
This led to unhealthy habits along the way, including using substances to try to cope with the shame I was feeling. I think it’s important to be honest about the stuff I struggled with because if you’re entering the working world and finding it hard, you should know that you aren’t the only one. I did too.
It’s not easy to confront whether the decision you made about your future lives up to its promise. It leads to all sorts of questions about whether this is the way you want to spend your time and the kind of person you want to be, and it’s hard to do all of this amidst the pressure you put on yourself to be successful.
Today, I feel very lucky I get to do what I do around people that I care about. The last year has been a reminder that I do my best work when I am looking after myself. And now that we have the foundations built, I can’t wait to see how the next five years pan out. If there’s anything I have learnt, it’s that I won’t be able to imagine what it will be like.
Thank you to the team, our former employees, partners, the community, and everyone who has been a part of the journey along the way. I 100% know that I wouldn’t have been able to do this without your support.
I hope you are quietly (or even noisily) noshing some cake somewhere. X