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What are some things you do to relieve stress?

Besides the obvious hairy palms, work out

realize that life is empty and meaningless lose all hope and forgo any further emotions for the next fifty years of my life and have to slowly rebuild the ability to feel in retirement only to realize it was too little too late as i lie on my death bed and there's no one there

and eat ice cream

lol

I've heard that weed and video games can be fun. And alcohol too.

Bully classmates

I go for walks sometimes. I also make sure I keep life in perspective. There are things more important in life than even law school. For example, realizing that my loved ones are what matters most in life. Spending time with my significant other is how I keep going.

Hanging out with friends who aren't in law school. If your friends have no desire to ask you about how law school is going, that's even better.

Clemenceau wrote:Hanging out with friends who aren't in law school. If your friends have no desire to ask you about how law school is going, that's even better.

This is the answer. You must have non-law friends.

Running.

Basketball and intramural sports.

Go to a better school.

As someone who is and has been prone to school-related stress (with a family history of pretty substantial mental health challenges), this subject is pretty important to me, and it's one that I've spent a lot of time thinking about.

Personally, working out (long-distance running plus some weights) really helps, because it gives me some domain in my life that I'm proud of, or at least feel like I'm "on top of." Mountains of studies show that exercise is incredibly helpful for stress reduction.

Next, meditation. This is something that I learned in the middle of undergrad when my type-A tendencies were driving me to pile just too much on. I specifically learned Transcendental Meditation (TM). It did cost money to learn from a real teacher, but I found it extremely helpful. I'm supposed to do it everyday, but I'll admit I don't. Usually, in a tough month or two, I'll be really into it, and then when things die down, I slack off with it. That said it is extremely calming and definitely reduces my stress levels. Caveat: some of the TM instruction or "theory" gets too spiritual for my taste, but at the end of the day it is just a technique to relax, so don't feel like the technique doesn't have utility even if the mentionings of "higher states of consciousness" leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

Good luck on managing your stress, though. It will improve with the right management.

buckiguy_sucks wrote:realize that life is empty and meaningless lose all hope and forgo any further emotions for the next fifty years of my life and have to slowly rebuild the ability to feel in retirement only to realize it was too little too late as i lie on my death bed and there's no one there

Yes. Maybe drop the second half of that plan, though.

I travel and enjoy going to sporting events, especially college football with my wife and kids during the fall semester. During the Spring semester I'm usually way too busy with my job to worry over anything law school related, but if I get job related stress, I just go to law school and hang out with friends, or take a night off from school and go to dinner with my family, as that is a nice diversion from work life.

Just this past weekend I went to A&M/UCLA on Saturday and UT/Notre Dame on Sunday. Will be going up to ND/Stanford in Oct, and to ND/Army in November and really looking forward to Texas Rangers playoffs and hopefully World Series run. If they make the Series, I hope to go to all the home games and at least one road game.

Basically I'd encourage you to do whatever it is you like so long as it's legal and ethical. Don't let youself feel so time pressured that you let it get to you. There is PLENTY of time to have a life, work, have a family, and excel in law school. It's all about being efficient and making the most out of available time, and most importantly, taking time to refresh yourself and enjoy life. Set a calendar with special things to you on it so you know what you have to look forward to and make yourself a mental checklist and countdown the weeks of the semester. That way you see yourself making incremental progress and you can feel that accomplishment.

Granted, it's taking me 7 semesters to graduate rather than the usual 6, as I'm a part time student (11 or 12 hours per semester, plus Summers).

What works for me, might not work for everyone, but I think the general thoughts can apply in a modified way to most.

My 1L year, Fall semester, I didn't do a whole lot of oustide activities as I was worried I was too old and couldn't compete, but I got over that "fear" pretty quickly and have settled into what works for me. Your mileage may vary but I hope you find a way to stay "relatively happy" on this journey

Good luck!

Work out, video games, night walks, and every now and then some alcohol.

However, the biggest thing that helped me was getting pets. Highly recommend a cat.

zot1 wrote:Work out, video games, night walks, and every now and then some alcohol.

However, the biggest thing that helped me was getting pets. Highly recommend a cat.

+1 on the pet recommendation. +100 on the cat. Get a calico kitten. They're social, friendly, and entertaining. Plus cats are so easy to take care of.

I was never a fan of cats until I found a calico kitten outside of my house my senior year of college.

zot1 wrote:Work out, video games, night walks, and every now and then some alcohol.

However, the biggest thing that helped me was getting pets. Highly recommend a cat.

This.

I have adopted four cats over the course of law school (all named after current and former Supreme Court justices ). They serve as far better friends than people and are very low maintenance. The only hassle is if you have to fly home for breaks. Fortunately, some airlines let you take pets carry-on as long as they're in crates.

barkschool wrote:Bully classmates

Why bother? They just do it to themselves.

When I feel a little stress I just look at what my class mates are doing. Usually they're freaking out over some semantic nonsense. I realize these are the people I'll be ranked against, I laugh, write, submit, move on.

I don't think dying alone is that big a deal to be honest to be honest. I don't think you have some sort of crazy life epiphany as you're about to die. You just sorta go.

FuturePaulClement wrote:

zot1 wrote:Work out, video games, night walks, and every now and then some alcohol.

However, the biggest thing that helped me was getting pets. Highly recommend a cat.

This.

I have adopted four cats over the course of law school (all named after current and former Supreme Court justices ). They serve as far better friends than people and are very low maintenance. The only hassle is if you have to fly home for breaks. Fortunately, some airlines let you take pets carry-on as long as they're in crates.

This isn't very reassuring

You don't need four cats...

buckiguy_sucks wrote:and eat ice cream

+1
The issue is that I also do this for fun. And to celebrate. And because it is Wednesday. Does anybody know a good diabetes lawyer?

In Law School I used Dip and Tinder