As a lawyer, you must cultivate a self care regime that works for you.
Finding this balance will help you function at optimum levels of performance. Lawyers practicing family law, personal injury, and criminal law deal with high emotions and demanding circumstances.
Self-care allows lawyers to harness their energies to improve professional performance while maintaining a balanced personal life.
What is self-care? Self-care means taking care of your mental and physical well-being by cultivating habits that address these needs.
Some examples of self-care regimes can include getting proper nutrition, exercise, and adequate rest. Other lawyers have reported incorporating yoga, tai chi, karate, meditation, dance, and other recreational activities that work well for decompressing; others spend quality time with friends and family. Here are three tips to help you begin to cultivate a self-care regime that brings your personal and professional life into balance:
PHYSICAL BALANCE:
Eating well and getting regular exercise is a crucial part of a complete self-care plan. Whether you work out a lot, or a little, getting your body moving is extremely important. Walking, running, swimming, and biking are great ways to exercise without hitting the gym. Others report that lifting weights and other forms of strength-building were critical in releasing chemicals in the body that help us achieve mental and physical well-being.
MENTAL BALANCE:
Mental stress indeed affects your mental health, but did you know that it can also have severe negative impacts on the body? Mental stress can manifest in the form of tension and pain. Getting adequate sleep is paramount to any successful self-care plan in that it helps the brain function properly. Beyond this, you can try meditation or focused breathing techniques to help achieve mental balance.
PERSONAL BALANCE:
Lawyers generally have high fiduciary responsibilities and duties to their clients and their profession. Lawyers are routinely on-call or available after hours. Separating your professional life from your personal life is very important. Make sure you’re spending quality time with loved ones, and remove toxic relationships that don’t align with your self-care needs. It’s also important to spend quality time alone when needed.
The LDP (www.lawyersdepressionproject.org) provides invaluable resources for lawyers and other professionals that will help keep your personal and professional lives in balance.