**
If meaning has ever been a problem for you, The Reenchantment of Meaning is the book for you. It explains exactly how to restore and maintain meaning in your life. “A must-read for every thinking person on our planet!” — Denise Beck-Clark, MFA, MSW. Get your copy now!
**
When Amina received the email announcing her promotion to senior associate at the law firm, she stared at the screen for several seconds before allowing herself to smile.
She had worked toward this moment since law school, and long before that. Her parents had immigrated from Nigeria with little money and enormous determination. They had sacrificed vacations, postponed home repairs, and worked extra shifts so their daughter could attend excellent schools. Success had never been an abstract ambition. It had been the family’s shared project.
That evening, her colleagues toasted her at an upscale restaurant. Her parents called from Atlanta, their voices bright with pride. Friends texted congratulations. The promotion came with a larger office, more responsibility, and a salary that would have seemed unimaginable only a few years earlier.
Everything had unfolded according to plan.
Yet over the following months, a quiet uneasiness settled into her days. It wasn’t that she disliked practicing law. She enjoyed complex problems, respected many of her colleagues, and appreciated the intellectual rigor of the work. What troubled her was something harder to name.
She found herself preparing arguments she no longer fully believed, defending corporate decisions that left her vaguely uncomfortable, and measuring success almost entirely by billable hours and client satisfaction.
She began waking before dawn, not because of deadlines but because her mind had become restless.
One Saturday, she attended a reunion at her undergraduate university. Wandering through the campus afterward, she passed a student legal aid clinic where she had volunteered years earlier. Through the open door, she saw students interviewing clients who could never have afforded private counsel. The waiting room was crowded. The atmosphere was serious but hopeful.
An older professor recognized her and invited her inside.
“We’re always looking for experienced attorneys to supervise a few hours each month,” he said casually.
Amina thanked him, took the brochure, and slipped it into her bag.
For nearly six weeks, it remained there.
She wasn’t short of excuses. Her schedule was already overwhelming. Weekends had become precious. She doubted she could make a meaningful contribution by appearing only occasionally. Besides, she reasoned, the firm already encouraged charitable giving and occasional pro bono work. Surely that was enough.
Still, she found herself thinking about the clinic.
One Thursday evening, she finally walked through its doors.
Her first client was a hotel housekeeper facing an unlawful eviction. The legal issues were relatively straightforward. What stayed with Amina was the woman’s relief at simply being heard. She had expected another official who would dismiss her concerns. Instead, she encountered someone willing to sit quietly, ask careful questions, and explain the law in language she could understand.
Driving home that night, Amina realized that the hour had passed without her once glancing at the clock.
She returned the following month. Then every other Thursday. The volunteer work did not transform her career overnight. She remained at the firm. She still negotiated contracts, attended depositions, and managed demanding clients. The pressures of professional life did not disappear.
What changed was subtler. She stopped assuming that achievement and meaning were identical. Achievement brought satisfaction, security, and well-earned pride. But meaning seemed to arise from a different source altogether. It appeared whenever her work aligned with something she knew, deep inside herself, to be right.
That realization began influencing decisions she had scarcely questioned before. She declined certain cases that conflicted with her values. She sought clients whose work she admired. She spoke more honestly in meetings when ethical concerns arose, even when doing so made her uncomfortable.
Not every decision was dramatic. Most were almost invisible. A sentence spoken instead of swallowed. A compromise politely refused. A recommendation offered because it was the right one, not merely the profitable one.
Months later, a younger associate asked how she seemed to remain so calm despite carrying one of the firm’s busiest caseloads. Amina smiled before answering.
“I stopped trying to build only a successful career,” she said. “I’m trying to build a life I can recognize as my own.”
The distinction surprised even her. She had spent years believing that meaning would arrive automatically once she reached the next milestone. Instead, it emerged when she began measuring her days against an inner standard rather than an external one.
The promotion had changed her title. Choosing to live by her own principles changed her life.
**
If meaning has ever been a problem for you, The Reenchantment of Meaning is the book for you. It explains exactly how to restore and maintain meaning in your life. “A must-read for every thinking person on our planet!” — Denise Beck-Clark, MFA, MSW. Get your copy now!
**
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