My wife’s college friend is “in a war with the month of February”—those dark days of winter that try to bring us all down. In her eyes, February wins if more bad things than good happen in a day.
For me, February was pretty nice this year, but we are still in a pandemic, the vaccine rollout is slower than expected, and we just hit a milestone of 500,000 deaths. Folks who have been struggling with addiction are “relapsing left and right” with treatment centers closing due to the pandemic. In addition, most 12-step programs have gone online or remote. We’ve got Zoom fatigue. We are anxious, depressed and traumatized. We are socially distant and socially isolated. We are working from home and therefore can’t tell the difference between work time and home time. Those of us with children at home with remote school are trying to balance that tightrope act too.
Even before all of this pandemic-induced disease, lawyer mental health and wellness, self-care, mindfulness, and finding work-life balance were in the zeitgeist. We need this type of support and assistance now more than ever to build individual and collective resilience in our profession.
I am a recovering alcoholic, and while it has been decades since my last drink, the last year has taken an emotional toll on my recovery and emotional well-being. I had to get intentional about self-care. And when I say intentional, I also mean it also has to be simple. With the gift of Zoom, I am able to attend the meetings in California where I got sober and connect on a regular basis with a core group of people intent on getting through this not only clean and sober, but serenely. I am also involved in a daily gratitude practice, exchanging a list of five things I am grateful for with a number of friends. Each day I can focus on what is present, and real and tangible, and then I get to read the lists they share with me. In addition to providing me a bit of emotional balance, the ritual also brings me closer to others at a time when we are so isolated from one another.
I also employ the HALT technique to keep me in balance. I try not to get too Hungry, too Angry, too Lonely or too Tired. If I fail to pay attention in any one of these areas, my emotional balance quickly gets skewed.
I am currently working my way through these books:
Here is a list with others specifically for lawyers. Most of the advice on meditation is “just do it,” but I have found meditation to be extraordinarily difficult to master with this squirrel brain of mine. However, I’ve found this helpful guide. I also enjoyed and got a lot out of first three mindfulness books on this list. Andy Puddicombe’s book, “The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness,” and the Headspace app are other helpful tools.
Friends, many of us are struggling. It is okay to be struggling, and there is help out there. One resource for us here in Michigan is the Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program (LJAP). This program’s sole purpose is to support Michigan’s legal professionals with trained mental health professionals experienced in working with lawyers. LJAP provides confidential help for addiction and other mental health issues. Right now, LJAP offers virtual support groups for attorneys to help cope with current events.
Other resources to check out include: