Rising 2L feeling burned out Forum

[Anonymous User]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

[thesealocust]

Your self worth is, and will forever, be determined by the honors and accolades you achieve through the law. Get to it.

[billyez]

Your self worth is, and will forever, be determined by the honors and accolades you achieve through the law. Get to it.

[3ThrowAway99]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

At least it didn't happen to you in the middle of the spring 1L semester (or maybe it was even early in the spring semester...). But yeah I can relate. I think it is best to ride it out. And I don't think practice is going to necessarily be a lot like law school (with the constant hoops to jump through, applications, interviews etc), though obviously some parts of it probably will be, and I'm fairly sure there is still a burnout factor for most legal jobs.

[Rock-N-Roll]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

Are you experiencing burnout or possibly anxiety? If your post is serious and you think it might be the latter, maybe you should try and speak with someone at your health services office? Hope you feel better.

[Anonymous User]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

Are you experiencing burnout or possibly anxiety? If your post is serious and you think it might be the latter, maybe you should try and speak with someone at your health services office? Hope you feel better.

Go with someone who can prescribe things. I recommend Xanax.

[Heartford]

If you're a frequent TLSer, try giving it a rest for a week. There's a lot of doom and gloom on here that, while not necessarily untrue/unwarranted, will make you needlessly stressed about finding a job. It is rough out there and it won't be easy, but worrying about it all day long will only make it harder on you. Get those cover letters done and sent out, and then walk away from the computer.

[vanwinkle]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

It sounds cliche, but there's no way to get through the stress of law school or life without your friends and family. Some people get so caught up in their studies during the school year they forget to take care of themselves, even in really simple ways.

You need a vacation, and more social activity, it sounds like. It's summer, if you're a rising 2L then you should have some spare time between whatever 1L job you're working and the start of the school year. Go somewhere and distance yourself from your studies as much as you can, for at least a week or two, before the fall semester starts. Maybe you'll feel a little less burned out after you've had some time to relax.

[Master Tofu]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

Why are you without your support network? I think that's the biggest problem...

[turbotong]

If you're a frequent TLSer, try giving it a rest for a week. There's a lot of doom and gloom on here that, while not necessarily untrue/unwarranted, will make you needlessly stressed about finding a job. It is rough out there and it won't be easy, but worrying about it all day long will only make it harder on you. Get those cover letters done and sent out, and then walk away from the computer.

LOL, in all my history of surfing the internets, there has there every been a website that can give the response of "stop visiting this website for advice" as legitimately as this website can.

[Nogameisfair]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

It sounds cliche, but there's no way to get through the stress of law school or life without your friends and family. Some people get so caught up in their studies during the school year they forget to take care of themselves, even in really simple ways.

You need a vacation, and more social activity, it sounds like. It's summer, if you're a rising 2L then you should have some spare time between whatever 1L job you're working and the start of the school year. Go somewhere and distance yourself from your studies as much as you can, for at least a week or two, before the fall semester starts. Maybe you'll feel a little less burned out after you've had some time to relax.

This is absolutely true. Many law students think that they can put their life on "hold" until they are done with school. Some of those then think that they can put their life on "hold" until the become partner, or get to the USAO. I've found that this is a really unhealthy way to live. Most of use are doing these things at the prime of our lives when we should be enjoying our most important relationships and figuring out what we really care about in life. You can never put that on hold. Taking a break occasionally will not hurt your chances of being successful in life, and you probably can't be really successful unless you do take the time.

[katisse]

This might seem silly, but I'm feeling really burned out at the moment, and I don't know if I can do this law thing anymore... Its got nothing to do with my credentials (OCIs should be a slam dunk). Its just that, due to personal reasons, I find myself without my normal support network.. and so the only thing I'm left with is thinking about OCIs, course selection, my law-related summer job, and cover letters... and now I'm finding it hard to sleep at night, because I literally can't stop thinking about law... even the tv shows I watch.

I guess the point of my question is, am I alone in feeling this way? If not, then I'd love to hear your advice on how to rise above this

It "might seem silly" to feel "burned out?" Are you a machine? If you're a machine, then yes - it seems "silly" that you would "feel" burned out. But if you're an actual human poster, then uhh - no, not that "silly" for you to "feel" something, anything - including burned out.

So here's my two cents. All of us have a natural level of aptitude, and working a reasonable amount will give us results that map to our "default" level of aptitude. If we desire some higher level of result, or performance, or achievement - then we need to supplement our natural effortless-type aptitude with hard work, discipline, organization, and luck. Now some, like Malcolm Gladwell, place lots of weight on these "supplemental" efforts and downplay the role of talent. That's fine.

But the bottomline remains - if you're a 48 year old Chinese guy sprinting against a 21 year old Jamaican, then you can supplement your "natural abilities" with any type of hard work, dedication, organization, planning, roids, muscle-tranplants (?), whatever, but you're not going ot beat the 21 year old Jamaican at a sprint.

So I suggest figuring out where your natural performance level is - i.e. the results you can get by putting your natural abilities in gear by applying a reasonable amount of effort. Then, if you desire higher things, you have to make tradeoffs with your personal life. If you're feeling "burned out" - my sense is that your goals are too high, and have been too high for a long period of time. This is when burn out happens. So this is easy. George Carlin has a remedy for this. Set lower goals. Or, do as other posters suggest and acquire family and friend support. But that's temporary, and you know that. You'll always be burned out in anything if you keep trying to run that engine at 6k RPM when its neutral state is at oh say 1.5k RPM.

I'll say one last thing. Reflect on this. Are you burned out by the above? Or are you burned out because you don't like the practice of law, and find that it gives you very little professional satisfaction. If you find that to be the case, I'd suggest sticking around only as far as your debt obligations require you to. You're probably young. You've got one life to live unless you're a cat. Might as well do something that gives you tons and tons of professional satisfaction.

[Shammis]

Hopefully you busted your ass and can secure a spot at a firm...if you did, then RELAX a little bit. Also, how much do you exercise? I get legitimately depressed/anxious/ridiculous when I haven't worked out in a while. Go out for a run or something, get those endorphins pumping, nut up, and prepare to finish what you started. Also, I agree with katisse...take stock of how you truly feel about the practice of the law. If you truly love it, stick with it, if you dont, be honest with yourself. If you do love it, realize life is not going to be easy, you are going to have to work a ton, but at the same time you will be doing something meaningful with a (hopefully) beneficial impact on someone elses life. Oh and throw on some Bob Marley "No Women, No cry", it'll make ya feel better in a minute.

[Anonymous User]

You're certainly not alone in feeling that way. Regardless of how well things are going for you in law school, there's always more to be done, and so the entire process tends to completely consume many people. I've been fortunate enough to do extremely well in law school, and I still find it hard to relax.

Try to keep things in perspective. A few days ago, I was talking to someone sitting next to me on a flight, and when I mentioned that I am attending law school, he replied "wow, you're set for life then, two friends of mine graduated law school a few years ago and they are already making nearly six figures." Don't just compare yourself to your fellow law students, some of whom will be hired at more prestigious firms, get better clerkships, and so on; remember that once you make it through OCI and the summer associate program, you'll begin your career earning an income that only a few people will not envy.

[A'nold]

Hopefully you busted your ass and can secure a spot at a firm...if you did, then RELAX a little bit. Also, how much do you exercise? I get legitimately depressed/anxious/ridiculous when I haven't worked out in a while. Go out for a run or something, get those endorphins pumping, nut up, and prepare to finish what you started. Also, I agree with katisse...take stock of how you truly feel about the practice of the law. If you truly love it, stick with it, if you dont, be honest with yourself. If you do love it, realize life is not going to be easy, you are going to have to work a ton, but at the same time you will be doing something meaningful with a (hopefully) beneficial impact on someone elses life. Oh and throw on some Bob Marley "No Women, No cry", it'll make ya feel better in a minute.

How could anything be more credited than this? One of my favorite songs.

Also, I agree with vanwinkle and the others above. Burnout is a real thing. I'm one of the people that thought they could just put off every fun kind of activity just to get through law school and I really burned out hard around Spring semester of 1L year. While I always cared more about spending time with my daughter than getting an A or whatever, I often would put off time with her for very "important" things that I knew I had to do to get a good grade for transfer/job reasons. Finally I realized that that mentality was really depressing me and altering my moods in a negative way. So, I made it a rule that if my daughter brings me a book or wants to go outside, even if I have a final the next day or whatever, I will do that with no regrets or questions asked, regardless of my final grade. I've been content and happy ever since.

While I still get down or stressed to the max about things like going to court or working on a brief, I am in such a better place now. Good luck to you op, your mental health is WAY more important than law school or legal employment. Put yourself first.

[polycom01]

This is absolutely true. Many law students think that they can put their life on "hold" until they are done with school. Some of those then think that they can put their life on "hold" until the become partner, or get to the USAO. I've found that this is a really unhealthy way to live. Most of use are doing these things at the prime of our lives when we should be enjoying our most important relationships and figuring out what we really care about in life. You can never put that on hold. Taking a break occasionally will not hurt your chances of being successful in life, and you probably can't be really successful unless you do take the time.

Sage advice.