Judge Primeaux's Advice to Lawyers on Dealing with Stress
Yesterday Judge Primeaux provided words of wisdom to lawyers on the issue of stress in this post. Here is what he said:
Lawyer, meet stress. It’s your bane, your motivator, your constant companion, your all-too-familiar demon. It comes from clients, deadlines, judges, finances, family and ethics. It visits you on the day the bills are due, the day after those requests for admissions were unansweredly due, at 2:00 a.m., and when you walk in the court room door. It can make you sick, grumpy, sad, drunk, ineffective, inattentive, erratic and even violent. It’s part of the job. Learn to live with it or die.
Translation: rub some dirt on it.
Stress is definitely my constant companion. I was telling someone the other day that I can't relax and don't even try anymore. And I like practicing law more than anyone I know.
I don't know how long that I would have to be on vacation to get to the point where I could relax. But I know that a week is not long enough. If I ever retire it will probably be because I want to try to end the 24–7 stress rather than that I stopped liking the practice of law.
The Lawyers and Judges Assistance Program of the Mississippi Bar can help lawyers who feel overwhelmed by stress. LJAP is not just for lawyers and judges dealing with substance addiction- it's also there for those who are depressed or overly stressed. It's a terrific resource that's under-utilized by the Bar, in my judgment.
Philip,
If you retired you'd be absolutely miserable. Like me, you live for this law bidness. And, for the people complaining about the stress, I offer one word of advice: QUIT. Go do something that has no stress such as being a hand model or a doctor. Also, in case people haven't noticed, practicing law is not like Law & Order or Ally McBeal. It's tedious and frustrating but I assure you it's better than working in a lumber yard in the hot Mississippi sun.
Litigation, in particular, is extremely stressful, but still I love it. I think the reason why, to paraphrase a comedian I heard recently who was talking about why he liked sports and hated politics, is because:
"At the end of the day, there's a winner, and there's a f***ing loser."
I got married last year and went on a 10 day honeymoon where there was no cell phone or email access. on day 4 i started to relax. on day 6 i was totally relaxed. on day 7 i felt guilty about being so relaxed. on day 8 i started my to do list in my head for when i got back in the office. on day 9 i thought our honeymoon was too long. on day 10 i was cranky because i was neither on vacation nor at work. the next day i started prepping for a trial that was starting in 3 weeks and i was back on track.
after a while, it gets to where you depend on the stress.