TheSeaLocust's 1L Anxiety Meditation Retreat & Spa Forum

[beepboopbeep]

We started late so I don't have memo shit to complain about yet, but still feeling pretty stressed.

Got a couple legendary/notorious professors who just, like, tell stories and ask hypos all class and hardly talk about our reading. What should I be getting from that? Just a sense of how to think about this stuff? Trying to distill classes into important takeaway points and mostly coming up with, "Professor X likes to embarrass terrified 1Ls."

[thesealocust]

We started late so I don't have memo shit to complain about yet, but still feeling pretty stressed.

Got a couple legendary/notorious professors who just, like, tell stories and ask hypos all class and hardly talk about our reading. What should I be getting from that? Just a sense of how to think about this stuff? Trying to distill classes into important takeaway points and mostly coming up with, "Professor X likes to embarrass terrified 1Ls."

Don't worry too much about professor style. Some will try to intimidate you and some will try to really nurture you, but at the end of the day they're all really going to be looking for the same thing on the exam; it's just different levels of peacock behavior that you're seeing.

[espressocream]

+1. Drink.

You're supposed to run face-first into the wall on your first memo, and a lot of the stuff you do as a new 1L (and as I'm finding out, as a new lawyer!). It's all part of the process.

The first step to being kinda-good at something is being comically awful at something. It is the way of things.

that makes me feel better, but I happened to see other people's grades which is why I just can't deal with all this. I hit the gym and cooked a nice meal, but I still feel like an idiot. I just feel dumb for not being able to do what they could do.

[Easy-E]

We started late so I don't have memo shit to complain about yet, but still feeling pretty stressed.

Got a couple legendary/notorious professors who just, like, tell stories and ask hypos all class and hardly talk about our reading. What should I be getting from that? Just a sense of how to think about this stuff? Trying to distill classes into important takeaway points and mostly coming up with, "Professor X likes to embarrass terrified 1Ls."

Don't worry too much about professor style. Some will try to intimate you and some will try to really nurture you, but at the end of the day they're all really going to be looking for the same thing on the exam; it's just different levels of peacock behavior that you're seeing.

If one of my teachers tries to intimate me I better get an A- at least

[thesealocust]

heh; typing is hard

[Easy-E]

Speaking of which, just got back my first closed memo. Ungraded, thank god. Holy shit I haven't seen a paper marked up this much in...well ever. It's a bit frustrating to be chided for using legalese (I get why not to) when all we ever read is opinions fulls of the most antiquated legal jargon and obscure word usage. I guess if you become a judge you just get to say fuck LRW. This class is gonna suck. They are really holding our hands through it, but still, it's overwhelming to try and learn an entirely new style of writing after spending your whole life writing in another one. At least it's Friday and I'm caught up for Monday. Six pack of Hoegaarden and a corned beef sandwich shall be my lunch.

[06102016]

..

[soj]

Well, I don't even know where to begin in this thread.

what's on your mind?

[06102016]

..

[soj]

Well, I don't even know where to begin in this thread.

what's on your mind?

welp, civ pro is a disaster. I come out of lectures feeling like I understand less than when I went in. property is different but also shaky. Con law is fine. I enjoy it and have an okay grasp of it.

I have never felt dumber or more disorganized relative to my peers. standard stuff.

yup, you're not alone by far.

[thesealocust]

Not alone at all. Everyone is a mess and the profs relish in making it seem impossible and confusing and conflicting.

Hang in there and keep at it. It's like picking up a language by immersion - one day you'll be fluent in it without even realizing it happened.

[kay2016]

Alright.. Anxiety has taken over.

Open memo outline is due on Tuesday and I just feel completely lost on where to start.

But more nerve wracking, one of our professor's is now out for several weeks due to a complication with surgery. Another professor taught the class for a week while he had the surgery, but she has a completely different methodology and I know she's teaching Monday, but I don't know if she's subbing in indefinitely or if we're going to have make-up classes right up until Finals or what... and of course it's all out of our control. But it's just frustrating that we're missing time with the person who we're trying to impress on the final. At least we're all in it together?

[shifty_eyed]

I'd feel a lot better if I went to a school where you could land big law at median.

[sublime]

..

[thesealocust]

At least we're all in it together?

This is a good attitude to have. The feeling of being lost and overwhelmed and anxious is likely to intensify as finals approach - never forget that those feelings are normal, everyone has been through them, and the only solution is to keep your head down.

What's that phrase? If you're going through hell, keep going?

[dkb17xzx]

At least we're all in it together?

This is a good attitude to have. The feeling of being lost and overwhelmed and anxious is likely to intensify as finals approach - never forget that those feelings are normal, everyone has been through them, and the only solution is to keep your head down.

What's that phrase? If you're going through hell, keep going?

song by rodney atkins w/ the same title as well.


thanks for the thread. as shifty mentioned above, it'd be great if i had gone to a school with biglaw @ median possibility (we both go to the same school). so at times, it gets a little stressful thinking about how what's gonna happen if 1L doesn't work out.

[thesealocust]

No sense getting preoccupied by it now. Even at schools where most people can get biglaw, there's a sense of dread because nobody is confident of hitting median and everyone is trying to do their best.

Focus on doing as well as you can and learning the material, and realize that even in a challenging market there will be lots of opportunities and adventures. Biglaw is just one of many paths, and it has its own drawbacks as well.

In short, try not to tie your sense of self to specific outcomes. Just do your best, and do it for yourself, not for hiring committees, parents, or anybody else.

[eerie_erie]

I guess I can give some words of advice.

Law school for me hasn't gotten easier even though it's 3L year. In fact I think in some ways it is a lot harder (academics + other things). I do think one of the things is that I stopped trying to avert disasters and moments of vulnerability. Tried to embrace it and practice gratitude for what I had. Also started socializing with people who were really truly good people instead of making do with the toxic ones I came across. I still have my bad moments too but always understand you can fight back instead of feeling helpless or clueless.

[moonman157]

I seriously feel so stupid in Civ Pro. I just can't internalize and memorize all of the rules, and I am terrified that I am falling further behind each class because I'm still struggling with material we already covered. Freaking out right now

[MKC]

I feel like I should be more stressed out than I am. I have a lot of shit to do, and it's tough to keep up sometimes, but I certainly don't have that overwhelmed feeling I keep hearing/reading about being normal. Ironically, not being overwhelmed makes me think I've missed something completely, and I'm fucked in some way I haven't even contemplated yet. Any of that make sense?

[moonman157]

I feel like I should be more stressed out than I am. I have a lot of shit to do, and it's tough to keep up sometimes, but I certainly don't have that overwhelmed feeling I keep hearing/reading about being normal. Ironically, not being overwhelmed makes me think I've missed something completely, and I'm fucked in some way I haven't even contemplated yet. Any of that make sense?

This is exactly how I feel about classes that aren't Civ Pro. For Contracts, we have basically one case to read per class, plus the notes, and we are usually behind, so there isn't too much reading. I read the cases carefully and follow along in class, but I also recognize that I don't need 3 pages of notes per case, so I'm wondering what's going to be really hard about this :/

[desiballa21]

I feel like I should be more stressed out than I am. I have a lot of shit to do, and it's tough to keep up sometimes, but I certainly don't have that overwhelmed feeling I keep hearing/reading about being normal. Ironically, not being overwhelmed makes me think I've missed something completely, and I'm fucked in some way I haven't even contemplated yet. Any of that make sense?

This is exactly how I feel about classes that aren't Civ Pro. For Contracts, we have basically one case to read per class, plus the notes, and we are usually behind, so there isn't too much reading. I read the cases carefully and follow along in class, but I also recognize that I don't need 3 pages of notes per case, so I'm wondering what's going to be really hard about this :/

I feel this EXACTLY. Pretty lost in Civ Pro.. definitely don't have the rules memorized and the Erie and reverse Erie stuff is a little off for me.. But otherwise, in conlaw and torts I feel like I'm just not stressed enough or not doing enough even though I've been doing the readings.

[Easy-E]

Annnnnd I'm getting nervous. Should we be outlining yet? Based on my syllabuses (syllabi?) were just about halfway through the material. I still feel like I'm missing something, like I'm not learning the right black letter law or the big concepts.

[soj]

Annnnnd I'm getting nervous. Should we be outlining yet? Based on my syllabuses (syllabi?) were just about halfway through the material. I still feel like I'm missing something, like I'm not learning the right black letter law or the big concepts.

No. Feel free to get started if you must, but there's plenty of time. I doubt there's much outlining you could do now that you couldn't do more efficiently later when you have a better holistic understanding of the course. Do you have a Thanksgiving break? And finals afterwards? If so, around Thanksgiving (a few weeks before, during, or immediately afterwards) is a great time to buckle down and get started.

If you wanna feel productive, work hard on LRW (if graded) and try writing a draft cover letter.

[Easy-E]

Annnnnd I'm getting nervous. Should we be outlining yet? Based on my syllabuses (syllabi?) were just about halfway through the material. I still feel like I'm missing something, like I'm not learning the right black letter law or the big concepts.

No. Feel free to get started if you must, but there's plenty of time. I doubt there's much outlining you could do now that you couldn't do more efficiently later when you have a better holistic understanding of the course. Do you have a Thanksgiving break? And finals afterwards? If so, around Thanksgiving (a few weeks before, during, or immediately afterwards) is a great time to buckle down and get started.

If you wanna feel productive, work hard on LRW (if graded) and try writing a draft cover letter.

I'm starting my first open memo today, so I can put some time into that. I just don't really understand what makes outlining take so long. Take the rules and tests and flowcharts and such, put them into an orderly system for referencing during an exam. I know it does take a while, I just don't really get why. It's all information I have in my notes/casebook/supplements no?