Everyone should look after their personal wellness, lawyers included. The job can be incredibly stressful, and if you want to stay healthy, you need to take time to make sure your mental and physical health stays up-to-par. This means things like improving your work-life balance, managing your stress better, focusing on a better mindset, and working on self-care habits. Here are a few strategies that could help you watch after your wellness.
Self-Reflection
One way to make sure you stay healthy is to get yourself into a healthy mindset. This is where self-reflection comes in—whether you meditate, do yoga, or spend a few minutes each day collecting your thoughts, you should take time to reflect on yourself and how you’re doing in life. There are apps available for your smartphone that’ll guide you through meditation and provide resources to assist in your self-reflection.
Nutrition
Eating well goes miles toward ensuring your health, but cooking at home can take time that lawyers simply don’t have. Consider your nutrition: what are your eating habits? Are they healthy, or do they have room for improvement? Take these conclusions and determine what dietary changes you’ll need to work on your nutrition, then stick to it. If you don’t have time to cook your own meals, consider subscribing to a meal delivery service or set aside time once a week to do some meal prep for the remainder of the week.
Mental Health
Mental illness and substance abuse are high within the legal community because of the stigma of invulnerability that surrounds the profession. Many believe that lawyers should tough their issues out, and those that seek help are showing weakness rather than strength. This stigma makes it difficult for professionals to get the help they need because they don’t feel they can talk about the subject. Know that admitting you need help isn’t a weakness—admitting that you need help shows strength because of how difficult it is to speak about the topic. If you need help, you can:
- Talk to someone you trust. Speaking to someone will help you feel like you’re not alone.
- Learn to recognize when you’re getting caught up in negative thoughts. Once you do that, you can learn how to interrupt those thoughts instead of letting them fester.
- Do tasks one at a time, rather than all at once. Studies show that people work better when focusing on one task rather than multi-tasking.