Take a Break
No, seriously,
you need to! The semester is more than
halfway over…you are this close to completing a year of law school. Whether it’s the end of your first year,
second year, or you’re preparing for graduation and the bar exam, this is one
amazing accomplishment, so be proud of yourself!
While you should
definitely be proud of yourself, it’s important to remember that you’re
human. I know this may sound silly, but
as humans, we have basic needs beyond the confines of law school. Although we may try to think we’re robots,
we’re not, and if these basic needs are not met, everything else may fall by
the wayside, and at this point, you don’t want your lack of self-care to
negatively affect your performance in law school and other facets of life.
Again, we’re
human; we get both mentally and physically exhausted, making our overall
performance suffer. Research, and I’m
sure for many of your personal experience, shows that as Americans, we don’t
like to take breaks. However, think
about it from this standpoint. When
you’re burned out from work, you don’t want to be near your office or cubicle
says Robert London, a New-York based psychiatrist. You may be asking “what does this information
have to do with law school?” Well, in
many ways, Law School is a full-time job.
You may have classes spread out over an eight plus hour day (much like
work-meetings), with work and projects sandwiched in these meetings as you
prepare for yet another day of “meetings.”
Putting it more simply, law school is basically a full-time job, and
some days you need to just take time for you…a personal day.
Here are some of
the many benefits of taking time off for just you:
1.
Stress
Management: When you’re at work or
school, your to-do lists grow and grow, both inside and outside the
office/classroom. With this increase in
tasks, you become stretched thinner and thinner, leading to the infamous burn
out. Psychiatrist Robert London shows
that burnout can become a serious issue if not addressed properly. Feeling like you don’t have enough hours in
the day? Feel like you’re losing focus
minute by minute? Feel just plain
tired? Then it may be time for a
personal day.
2.
It
Increases Productivity: When your brain is put into overdrive, the last thing
you want to do is be productive. You are
burned out; tired, and probably not focused…I know this was the case for me at
least. Taking a day off gives your brain
the chance to decompress your body and brain, allowing you to boost your
overall productivity and creativity…in a way, helping your school career by
taking time off.
3.
You
can get some sleep: When I was 19-24, I
could completely manage to get five hours of sleep, go to the gym, go to class,
and still have energy after work and school to go out for the evening. As I got older, however, sleep became
essential to my well-being and personal growth.
When you only get four to five hours of sleep a night, which builds up
to the point your energy starts to slip, causing a slip in productivity, and
eventually, the dreaded burn-out. Taking
the much-needed mental health day to catch up on sleep may be just what you
need to take on the ever stressful aspects of law school.
Ultimately,
taking a personal day here and there can benefit you in the long term as you
work to complete law school and eventually take the infamous bar-exam. While you think, I don’t have any time, I’m
sure you can sneak in a few hours here and there, or even a full day at some
points. I vividly recall what a fellow
classmate of mine, an evening student and full-time paralegal told me. She takes every Saturday as a personal day,
spending time with family and having me-time.
She says she can grind out work the other six days of the week, but that
day is her day. So I challenge you, whether full-time day
students or part-time evening students to take that mental health day from time
to time…you’ll thank yourself later.
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