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Archive for the ‘Stress & Burnout’ Category

Back to Basics

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And Covid! Continues. Really? Aren’t we in the home stretch yet? Apparently not. Breaking news (that surprises no one): vaccine rollout not happening as quickly as planned/predicted… B117 Covid Mutation Bomber now looms…blah blah blah. There is an adage in long-term recovery. “If you stick with the basics, you never have to get back to […]

Validation

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Something interesting happened when the world screeched to a halt and the courts closed in mid-March. The lawyers we work with as volunteers and clients did not respond as everyone predicted lawyers would.[1] Were there, and are there still, fears of financial insecurity due to the decrease in new legal matters, reductions in salary, or […]

Sweet Dreams

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By Robynn Moraites Lawyers Weekly called me requesting a quick one-to-two sentence quote as to how I would advise a lawyer having difficulty with sleeping. Finding myself unable to succinctly summarize what I know about lawyers and sleep, a few paragraphs later, I realized I had the beginnings of this quarterly column for the Bar […]

Weather Patterns

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By Robynn Moraites Why do some lawyers find it easier to kill themselves than to admit they are unhappy and need to make a change? This may seem like an overly dramatic opening to an article about lawyer mental health, but it reflects the urgency I feel about bringing to light the importance of an […]

Self-Care vs. Car Wrecks: A Compassion Fatigue Story

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By Anonymous   I am smart. I really enjoy using my smarts to solve problems: logic problems, crossword puzzles, strangers needing directions, my clients’ problems, my friends’ problems, and my family’s problems. But, fixing problems has a sinister side, just like any addiction, and one can develop compassion fatigue. The best way to explain “compassion […]

What’s Mindfulness Got to Do with It?

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By Laura Mahr   After six weeks of Mindfulness Meditation for Building Resilience to Stress, lawyers from the 28th Judicial District Bar have the answer…   There are few things we lawyers love more than our brains. Which is why, when our brains tell us we are tired, most of us lawyers tell our brains […]

Messy, Unruly, Chaotic Life

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After working at the NC Lawyer Assistance Program (LAP) for the past 5 years, I can say with confidence that most of what we see clinically is lawyers’ and judges’ responses to the serious difficulties of life and a career in law. Not that there isn’t true psychopathology, because there certainly is. But it is […]

Getting Lost in Our Own Lives

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Lawyers are especially adept at maintaining a façade. “Never let ‘em see ya sweat” is wonderful advice for entering into a tough mediation, negotiation, or lengthy trial. The problem arises when we take an adage like that to heart so strongly that we completely disconnect from our authentic internal experience. Most lawyers we see at […]

The Enlightened Lawyer: Overcoming Stress and Creating Balance

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You’ve already been at the office for nine hours. The senior partner is on your case about a research memo you haven’t had a chance to begin. That difficult client who insists on calling several times a week to complain about everything under the sun is at it again. Oh, and you’ve got a brief […]