A little bit about me

Hello!

First of all, thank you for reading my blog!

I thought I would start off by writing a post sharing a bit about my personal story so that you can get to know me better.

In general, I am a positive and happy person who believes that persistence is the key when it comes to achieving your goals. I think that in life you have the power to decide the kind of person you want to be and the legacy that you want to leave. I believe in being kind, honest, generous and compassionate. I would like to leave this world knowing that I have made some sort of a difference by helping people who are in need.

Read on if you don’t like cats

I have two beautiful Australian Mist cats called Lani and Harvey. We adopted Lani when she was two and a half and Harvey when he was a little kitten. They are like my children and if you ever meet them, you will totally understand why. I love all animals (cockroaches and toads excluded) and I support various animal charities because I believe that all animals deserve a loving home. I think that any living creature who cannot speak for themselves deserves the protection of human decency and compassion.

My journey

My parents divorced when I was seven years old and I ended up moving schools and suburbs a lot when I was younger. I have a complicated family which has seen many lows. This exposure, I believe, is what will make me an empathetic lawyer and is one of the reasons I believe Family Law is where I belong.

I knew from an early age that I wanted to do well at school as my future career was always very important to me. My family remember me telling them that I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 12 years old. I have always found the law so interesting and I believed, and still do, that knowledge is power. Knowing I could educate and inform people of their legal rights and options so that they could make an informed decision, particularly at some of the lowest points in their life, made me feel like I could make a real difference.

I had a difficult adolescence and I struggled with feeling like I was good enough. This feeling stemmed from my difficult family and school life. In 2008, I suffered from Depression in my final year of high school. After being admitted to hospital, I had to make the difficult decision not to return to school for my final semester. This was a decision that my family struggled to understand at the time because up until that point, I had worked so hard at school to obtain good grades in order get my desired OP.

I worked really hard to beat my mental illness. It wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen overnight. I attended many counselling appointments, saw my Doctor regularly — sometimes for hour long appointments, read books and accessed many self-help materials (I can recommend Taming The Black Dog by Bev Aisbett), I tried to limit my alone time by going with my Dad to his work and constantly pushed myself to do the things I didn’t want to do — get out of bed, have a shower, exercise, leave the house and eat.

In 2009, while still suffering from Depression, I was determined to get my OP and get into Law. I worked and attended TAFE and by the end of the year I had achieved the results required to get into Law at QUT.

I started my degree at QUT in 2010 as a full-time internal (on campus) student. However, I was in a position where I needed to earn a decent income to support myself as I was living out of home. I was still suffering from Depression and found it near impossible to manage my mental illness, full-time study and full-time work. I cut back from four to two subjects and managed to pass these units the first semester of 2010. However, at the end of the first semester I re-evaluated my situation and decided to put my study on hold.

Persistence is key!

In 2013, while working as the Manager of an optometry practice, I found out that I could continue my degree externally if I had a letter from my employer supporting that I worked full-time. So, I started back up as an external student and for the next five years I worked and studied until I finally finished my degree at the end of 2018.

During my external study, there were many hurdles but I never let them stop me. My persistence is what counted in the end. I had many opportunities where I could have given up or decided that it wasn’t for me. Right now I am completing my PLT full-time in order to be admitted as a lawyer this year. I am excited for my future career and while I feel like I have already overcome many obstacles, I know it is only the beginning.

I am learning so much already. This information that I am learning as I network and meet other law graduates and lawyers inspires me to share that with others. There is so much misinformation out there and my experience as an external student is that you can feel very isolated. My hope is that through sharing what I am learning as a law graduate and the things that lawyers have learnt during their journeys, you will be better informed and may be able to start your legal careers with a greater sense of purpose and positivity. I hope that, despite any obstacles in your way — if you are passionate about working in law, that you stay persistent and ultimately find a career in law that you love!