How to deal with the stress/ anxiety Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey all-

I’ve only been practicing for about 5 years now but I feel the stress/ anxiety of practicing law is getting to me. The partners/clients who blatantly disrespect you, the pressure of making sure all deadlines are met, etc..... it’s just overwhelming for me at times.

I try going to the gym.... and trying hard not to drink too much.

But sometimes the stress is unbearable for me. I have a wife who supports me but not sure if I can continue like this....

Sorry for the rant... but any help or advice as to how you deal with the stress of the legal profession is appreciated.

Thanks.

[shock259]

In my experience, some people I work for inherently cause me more stress than others. If possible to try and work for different partners or clients within your group, that may (slightly) alleviate the stress. If that isn't feasible or possible, you could try lateraling. But it's really challenging to know whether the new environment will actually be less stressful, and it's not exactly something you can advertise when looking for a new firm. Finally, getting out of big law is an option. Whether that means moving to a smaller firm or going in house or quitting law entirely. For what it's worth, since going in house my stress level has dropped exponentially.

Sorry you're experiencing this. I would just say to listen to yourself. Only you can know when enough is enough.

[ur_hero]

Hey - I completely feel you and actually think I've become much more prone to being generally anxious/stressed since starting Big Law. I actually used to be a much more relaxed person!!!

It's actually really important to start off by acknowledging you're feeling stressed/anxiety, and making the decision that something needs to change. What helps me is identifying specifically what the things are that cause me stress, and to individually try to target and change something about those.

For me, a few things in no particular order include: (1) letting too many little things build up (emails, small administrative tasks, etc), causing me to feel more behind than I really am; (2) taking on too many assignments or otherwise not saying "no" often enough; (3) not making it a point to sleep enough; (4) not forcing myself to do at least a bare minimum of working out, hobbies, friends and other leisure time; (5) not communicating regarding assignments enough to let people know where things stand and let them know if they should expect a delay in advance; (6) not occasionally taking the time to think on a deeper level where it is i want to be in "x" months or "y" years from now.

You probably can't do everything at once all the time, but make it a point to think about and tackle things individually like the above (maybe make one or two things your focus every day). I feel at my best when I'm actively trying to do so.

There's always also the bigger question of "Do I want to keep doing this", so be mindful of that. I love my job and what I do for the time-being, so it helps to at least know I'm where I want to be right now. If you're not feeling that way, you really should explore other options whether its a different firm or job.

[Anonymous User]

Preach on, OP. Those exit options are looking better with every year. There's something everyday: deadlines, partner/client to manage, "emergencies." Sometimes I watch youtube, but really I'm just waiting to save enough to retire. Not a fan of one of the partner I'm stuck with.

[MaxMcMann]

This isn't biglaw specific, but meditation is insanely helpful, especially if you're prone to having racing thoughts.

It's very hard to start with and the first couple of weeks are so frustrating you want to quit, but after a while it gets to be very useful. Much bigger on Wall Street than in law. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4769029/ - a link to some science on the subject in case this sounds like it's on par with healing crystals or chakra cleanses.

I couldn't learn from reading instructions so I got a guided meditation app called Headspace. I'm not in any way connected to it nor am I claiming it's the best app (there are many highly rated competitors I haven't tried), but it's the one someone recommended to me so I stuck with it. The step 1 basic program is a free trial so it's worth a shot. I find the middle time option (starts at 3 minutes a day initially but is 15-20 when you're in advanced programs) is the best one. Note, you have to do this daily for it to really work. I got lazy about it for a few weeks and when I tried coming back I found I had to relearn from the start.

[mvp99]

You’re 5 years in! Get out to a vp position somewhere easy