Law school mental and physical health, explained.

Here’s a blog post detailing a rough patch I went through in law school during my first year and what I did to work on my mental and physical health! It’s pretty crazy to look back on my first year now, and I am so glad I have worked on taking care of myself. I don’t share this story to scare anyone or deter folks from applying to law school, but to share my experience and hopefully give some helpful advice!

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After my first year of law school, I was in pretty bad shape.

Coming in, I knew that the workload and the anxiety/imposter syndrome would be stressful, but I never imagined the immense mental and physical toll it would take on me. You might know that most studying in law school consists of reading, writing, and outlining. Outside of class, I spent most of my time in the law library during the first semester doing just that. I felt like I needed to be studying all the time because I saw other law students doing that. This included most of my weekends and it was NOT fun. I also wasn’t sleeping well and I wasn’t exercising. I broke out worse than I ever had before, and often forgot to eat or was too tired/lazy to make anything (and lost about 15 pounds over a year in the process).

I know this isn’t the typical law student experience. In fact, from what i’ve gathered, I feel like most law students actually gain a bit of weight instead of drastically losing it like I did. With that being said, everyone handles law school differently. For some, adjusting to the workload and the stress may not change them at all. I’m just sharing my own experience.

So now let’s talk more about stress. I feel like most of my stress did not actually come from the workload or adjusting to law school. I felt very stressed out from comparing myself to others and from our grades being on the law school curve. My imposter syndrome was through the roof. If you want to know more about how the curve, rankings, and other pressure contributed to my imposter syndrome, I have a full in-depth blog post on law school imposter syndrome you can read here (and I highly recommend it, a lot of law students have told me it deeply resonated with them!). Once the pandemic began in March of my first year, I noticed this stress started to subside due to the fact that I was not interacting with my classmates as much, and obviously was getting a lot more rest. I was able to dial back on the hardcore studying and really evaluate my mental/physical health, and then began to make some big changes in order to take better care of myself.

The first thing I did was change how I scheduled my study time. I began to block off weekends completely in order to have some time to unplug from law school and recharge. I moved all of my studying into the weekdays and only studied as much as I felt like I needed to. When I felt like I needed a break or wasn’t being too productive, I took a break and went outside, did some exercise, or just sat and checked my phone for a bit. I also reminded myself that everyone studies at their own pace. A reading that might take someone half a day might only take me a couple hours, or vice versa. People often ask how I am able to block off Saturday and Sunday completely. My answer is it definitely takes some serious time management skills, determination, and limiting time spent in extracurriculars. For me, it has been so necessary.

Another thing I did was incorporate exercise into my daily routine. Even if it’s just a walk outside or a quick 15 min workout on my lunch break, I feel so much better when I get some exercise. It has definitely helped with lowering my overall stress levels. Lastly, I began to work on eating better. For me, that means meal prepping a ton and making the effort to eat a whole meal even when i’m busy. I post meal prep ideas on my TikTok page sometimes if you need some inspiration!

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With these changes, I also altered my mindset and learned to give myself some grace. Law school (especially during a pandemic) is extremely hard, and any small step forward is more than enough. After making all of these changes, I am definitely happier and taking care of myself better. People often wonder if attending law school and entering the legal field means throwing away your free time and your sanity. Like any job, the work life balance will vary depending on where you work. The truth about law school is it doesn’t have to be terrible if you take active steps to prioritize taking care of yourself and focus on your mental health. I’m so glad I have developed these good habits now before I enter the working world as an attorney 🙂