#16 – It was a year ago today

Today, a year ago, I was admitted to practice Law in Victoria.

So I feel reflective. This blog has already taken on PLT and life as a young lawyer, meanwhile I have written on uni life for the Deakin University magazine here.

My admission was unique. COVID-19 traded the pomp and ceremony of the Supreme Court for the proximity and humility of a Pakenham conference room with close family and a charcuterie board.

That day, Melbourne was racking up COVID-19 cases with two more in a nearby Pakenham Springs Primary School. The city was nervously biting its lip under a veneer of normality.

The air smelled of Glen 20 and instant hand sanitiser. The worst was yet to come.

I’m reluctant to write about COVID-19, but I can’t imagine the last 12 months without it. The year threw everything at us as a city, as communities, as individuals.

We had every excuse to give up and write off the year. We refused. Every day we woke up and saw people moving their jobs online to reach more people, checking in on friends and trying to bake sourdough bread.

Every day was bloody hard. None of these new skills or existential shifts came easy, but our backs were against the wall and we responded incredibly. The innovations will be useful, but not as useful as the creativity to conceive them.

We want the next year to be smoother and healthier; but we have to keep our resilience, flexibility and open-mindedness intact.

The real test will come when everything is normal and comfortable again. Will we be glassy-eyed and swept by the inertia, or will we be able to test and improve ourselves?

My year of burnout and struggle since becoming a lawyer has also been my most agile and resilient. Can we hold onto the creativity without the pressure?

Next week: The only unscripted drama