Moody Eye View

Dear Eye View I am a 32-year-old attorney and a mom of a 3 month- old  daughter. For the past few years, I have worked at a corporation with an easy 8 to 5 schedule and lots of flexibility. I’m also bored out of my mind. I really want to get into a firm so that I can learn new skills and be challenged, but law firms aren’t known for being family friendly. There’s a firm interested in me, but they made a point of emphasizing that they never know what time they’ll be home and they come into the office every weekend. I am so torn and miserable as it really seems I have to choose between the career I want and time with my daughter. She is my joy and the most important thing in my life. But I’ve been trying to take better care of myself, as well, and changing jobs is really necessary to do that. My daughter goes to bed at 7 p.m. I could end up not spending time with her at all during the week and that breaks my heart. How do I decide what to do?

Frustrated

Dear F

I understand your concern.You need to  stop thinking of this as a binary choice. Your options are far greater than stay in the easy job you hate or take the more challenging one with brutal hours. I know the economy remains weak, but it sounds as if you are in a great position to start exploring other options. There may be all sorts of interesting jobs that would provide you with the necessary flexibility. So you need to take charge of this search. It could also be that there are opportunities to make your job more engaging at your current firm—explore those. Have you considered a super model job? Hope this helps.

EV