I was a high-powered corporate lawyer who worked on million dollar deals for more than 15 years – here’s why I regret sacrificing my life for my career

A former corporate lawyer who worked up to 23 hours a day for weeks on multi-million dollar deals has admitted she regrets “every minute” of her 16-year career.

According to Anjani Amriit, it was a condescending remark she received as a teenager that prompted her to choose a career in law.

She told her school counselor that she wanted to be the first in her family to go to college and that she was considering studying law or medicine.

“He literally laughed at me and said, ‘You can’t be a lawyer, you’re a woman,’” Ms Amriit told SBS. Insight on Tuesday.

“So I thought, ‘Well, I’ll show you.’”

Her stubbornness would have disastrous consequences: the long hours of her stressful job would eventually drain her physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

“I hated every minute of it,” Ms. Amriit said.

‘It destroyed me from day one. I was doing M&A stuff, and my typical days for months of deals were 22 to 23 hours.

‘I literally fell asleep at my desk and literally woke up a few hours later.

‘My secretary came by in the morning and I asked her to buy me a new shirt and a new blouse and then I just kept working.’

Ms Amriit, speaking on a programme about life regrets, said she eventually became “swallowed up” by her role, at the expense of her relationships, social life and happiness.

“I lost 40 pounds and I didn’t have that much to lose,” she added.

‘I ran to the bathroom, had a panic attack there and then went back to my desk to continue working.’

She claimed the work left a “black hole” in her heart.

Another motivation for studying law was to impress her family, even though she was actually more interested in journalism or archaeology.

“I believed that by going to university and getting an office job, I could make my family proud and build a life that my mother or father didn’t have,” Amriit said.

‘My father was actually a shepherd and grew up in Cyprus. Given the humble background, I thought this was a life choice that would benefit not only me but also my family.’

Anjani Amriit said it was one condescending remark that prompted her to pursue a career in law

But her role isolated her from her loved ones and although she earned ‘good money’, it never made her happy.

“Looking back, I regret wasting 16 years of my life, burning out and almost killing myself trying to prove something to society and to my family, I don’t know, and doing something that was completely out of line with who I really am,” she said.

Ms Amriit eventually quit her job, sold her house in Sydney and left for India to ‘find herself’.

Now she helps others find their purpose in life through motivational speeches and lyrics.