THE COMPLETE ATTORNEY: Embracing your full self in a challenging profession

By Misty Oaks ’08

If there’s one thing I appreciate about my experience at NCCU School of Law, it’s the feeling of acceptance I felt from the faculty, staff and fellow students — now colleagues. From day one, I felt like I had joined a big, supportive, encouraging family that was rooting for me all the way. I felt comfortable enough to be my full, complete self in such a supportive environment, after all, we were all going through the trenches of law school together.

Fast forward through my 11 years as a practicing attorney, and you will see that the environment has been much different in the ‘real world.’ I have heard from countless attorneys that feel they simply cannot be themselves in our profession. Many, especially my sisters in the law, have felt that they have to cover up their natural hair, their natural speech or their natural demeanor to fit into the idea of who they are expected to be by their superiors. In law firms, courtrooms, and corporations all around America, there are lawyers who feel like they have to wear a mask, and parade around as someone other than who they truly are in order to fit in. Many of us feel pressured to meet societal standards of how a lawyer should look, dress and act, and in the process of conforming, we are losing the things that make us the most unique and special.

For example, I am a singer-songwriter, and have been since I was 12 years old. But I remember the first time I talked to a music producer and told him I was an attorney as well, he laughed and said, “Attorneys don’t write music.” Again, not the societal norm. Did I let it stop me? Hell no! But it did take me a moment to get over the initial shock of his ignorance to the depth that attorneys can possess. Nowadays, I tell people I am an attorney by profession, but I am a spiritual attorney by passion and purpose. In the same way attorneys advise their clients on man-made laws, I counsel my clients on spiritual, universal and metaphysical laws that keep our world in balance and order. I speak at corporations, organizations and events all over. I see private clients for energy healing and card readings, and I am a writer for many different outlets that explore the spiritual side of life. Take that, societal standards!

I say all of this to say: society does not get to dictate who or how you should be; you get to decide who you are. You can be a great lawyer, and be that DJ, and that food blogger, and that interior designer, and that movie director, and whatever else you are passionate about. You can be everything you’ve always known you came to this Earth to be. Do that! Be that! Embrace that! Be unabashedly unafraid to explore the depths of your dimensions, and hold the truth of who you are out for all the world to see. Then your light will shine brighter. You will be better able to service your clients because you are better able to service your passions and therefore better able to serve the world through your gifts. You will be complete and whole, not denying any parts of yourself, and therefore, able to move with purpose and power, not in fear of anyone else’s judgment of you. So, I say, shine Eagles! Shine in all of your uniqueness, in all of your creativeness, and as the only thing you can truly be — YOURSELF!

I felt comfortable enough to be my full, complete self in such a supportive environment, after all, we were all going through the trenches of law school together.

The Spiritual Attorney, Misty Oaks Paxton, has carved out a unique niche of advising and counseling for her clients about Spiritual, Metaphysical, and Universal Laws. She is a certified Meditation and Mindfulness Coach, a Spiritual Life Coach, an Energy Healer, and a highly sought-after speaker and writer throughout the Southeast.

Attorney Paxton lives in Atlanta with her husband and bonus son. Follow her on social media @The Spiritual Attorney and online at www.thespiritualattorney.com