Guess what the percetage of Type A personalities permeate law school and the legal career?
I don't know the answer to that question, but I would venture to say that it is a very high number. Most of my colleagues from law school were very high achievers. There were doctors (i.e. PhD), marketing specialists, entrepreneurs, writers, philosophers, etc. Beyond their professional credentials, many of them also went all out with volunteer activities, sports, fitness, hobbies, political interests, activism, partying and attempting to attract the opposite sex.
Most of them did everything 110% (I hate that cliche). Where many of them fell down, and will fall down is their inability to give the body some rest.
This topic is especially relevant for me, since we just had a baby. I had to remind myself that many men, and women, choose to take anywhere up to a year off from regular life to connect with their new child, and to adjust to a major, major life change.
It reminded me that it's OK to take the time necessary, to get the rest that I need, and to support my family. There's no better time than now to take care of these things. The practice will always be there. My children will not.
I wish I had taken more time for myself and my family during law school. I did take time, but I wish I had taken even more. I wish I had gone on more holidays. The few thousand dollars would have been a minimal part of my debt. I wish I had attended fewer classes and just gone for runs instead, or read good trashy novels. The end result for my career would have been the same, I think, but I would have been even happier.
Make good on my wishes, and do these things for yourself this week.
Excellent post! Finding work/life balance is so difficult but necessary for endurance. It was very humbling for me to realize its impossible to move forward 24/7.
ReplyDelete"Holiday"..what is this word you made reference to in your post Adam? I must Wikipedia it, for it is indeed foreign to me.
ReplyDeleteActually, though I've never been on a holiday, my wife and I take a lot of little moment holidays - weekends in Niagara Falls, etc. In fact, an hour at Starbucks or walking downtown together is very much like a holiday to us. We are, however, now, after running a tiring business for 6 years and having 3 children (2 of whom still can't sleep through the night) very sleep deprived. We've both had strep-throat twice this season (we never had it before) and are always on the verge of illness - as I write I even have that "throat-closing-in" feeling we all get when coming down with something. Rest is unheard of for us. Vacations? I don't know if I'll ever have one. It's frightening really.