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I just started at a new firm his past week. I'm a general civil lit attorney and there is a ton of work to do, including a trial in May. That said, my boss said he didn't expect me to even bill thirty hours this week, as I'm obviously still getting used to things in a new city/firm. So I billed prolly like 35 hours this week.

Still, it's Saturday and I'm having trouble just relaxing. Which leads to my broader question: how do people relax in this field? Its stressful, especially being an employee. I drink a little but hate drinking to excess. I also am having trouble sleeping because I'm always nervous.

Smoke some weed. Seriously.

Also, exercise.

How many kids do you have? If the answer is less than one, go out and do something fun. If you have one or more, buy some weed from the poster above.

All the time. The longer I am at my firm, the worse it gets. On Friday evenings I already have anxiety about Monday mornings. You aren't alone in feeling this way and I can personally attest that smoking pot by itself will not make it any better.

You’re certainly not alone in this. I have friends at big firms who have to take Xanax. You know the stats about lawyers self-medicating with alcohol and drugs. I personally got placed in a less-demanding secundment for a few months and it took me weeks to decompress and fully be able to relax on weekends or at night. Humans are incredibly adaptable and not all people suffer under big law’s work environment, but most people do.

I wasn't in BigLaw but instead a very demanding litigation field of local govnm't (think trials every week and daily appearances in court) and I went through the exact same thing as you're going through now. It got better sometime between 6-12 months of the start date. Better in that I was able to live a normal life on the weekends and sleep at night lol exercise, movies and doing things that help you "turn off" helped to get through the 6-12 months.

seriously though, pot

Another vote for THC/CBD, particularly of the indica variety. Indica is more of a "physical," relaxing high, whereas sativa tends give be a more "heady," stimulating high. If you live in a state that offers THC/CBD for recreational or medical purposes, you should give it a shot.