Law Students are constantly put in high-stress circumstances, if it’s being called on suddenly in class, preparing for an interview or oral argument, managing the expectations of a client, a company, a court, or defense counsel, or even attempting to maintain a personal life.
A great level of cognitive control and intellect is also required when practicing law. It necessitates the capacity to concentrate, solve problems, recall case law and facts, assess the consequences, and make tough judgments.
However, the law’s inherent stress might have a detrimental impact on the brain’s capacity to think critically and control itself.
In this post, you’ll discover how stress impacts the brain, how we can alter the brain, why conventional coping methods don’t work, and how we can enhance our brain’s stress resistance alternatively.
Resilience is crucial since it allows you to:
- Aids us in maintaining our equilibrium at challenging or stressful times in our life;
- Allows us to develop protective mechanisms against potentially overwhelming experiences;
- Enables us to adjust and thrive in the face of adversity;
- Encourages us to recover from misfortune;
- It shields us from a variety of mental health issues.
What is your level of resilience?
Here’s another one to assist you answer this one: have you ever had a horrible day? You have, I’m confident! Everyone has, and this obviously demonstrates that you have a 100% success record in surviving them as well.
However, merely ‘surviving’ a difficult or stressful circumstance may not be the problem; rather, how you deal with adversity may be the issue. What are the long-term consequences of these events for you?
We utilize analytical abilities on a daily basis as attorneys; therefore let’s use them to discover our resilience strengths and weaknesses. You may also recognize the present resilience/stress management methods you employ to get through your ‘bad days’ in this manner.
Following techniques will assist you in your inquiry:
Step 1:
Make a list of three situational situations that put your resilience to the test the most. This will help you discover the major issues you’re dealing with so you can tailor your new resilience tactics accordingly.
Step 2:
Evaluate what you’re doing now to deal with stress and/or build resilience. This will assist you in determining what is working and what is not in the circumstances you outlined in Step 1. When these scenarios happen, how do you react? Do you have any sort of acting ability?
Take a sheet of paper and split it into two columns: “What is working” and “What is not working” for each circumstance.
Write down the positives in the first column that you believe are especially beneficial to you. The second column, of course, should contain any behaviors that you believe are counterproductive. For example, you may be eating well but sleeping poorly, or you may have a strong intention to exercise but are not actually doing so.
Although there are numerous advantages to working in the legal field, it is rarely simple! Standing up to the obstacles that come with being a lawyer is an important skill for a successful profession and a happy life in general. This requires one to have resilience.
Innovative resilience strategies are being developed
You can design new and improved techniques to aid you once you’ve evaluated your present strategy. Various techniques for resilience can:
Prepare you; allow you to be productive in the time; aid you in making the best of a bad situation; and finally, support you in moving on.
Routines
Choose one element to focus on for the following seven days to see if and when it makes a difference. It may be anything from your ‘working’ list that needs to be reinforced, or whatever from you’re ‘not working’ list that has to be turned around.
If you’re having trouble deciding between your options, try this easy trick: take deep breathes while waiting for your train or at traffic signal. Begin with three and gradually increase to ten as a habit.
Your brain and body will relax more as a result of good breathing practices. Deep breathing signals your sympathetic nervous system and amygdala (which is located in the Limbic region of your brain) to relax. The more you relax on a daily basis, the more blood flow to your frontal brain, which helps you stay attentive and inventive, may get through.
If you want to improve your activity, instead of promising yourself that you’ll go to the gym more, opt to walk up the stairs every day.
If you want to learn from others, utilize those moments while you’re waiting (for whatever reason) to consider remarkable people who have demonstrated perseverance in the face of hardship. You could fantasize about having a dialogue with this individual about how they thought, felt, or acted in order to be resilient. Is this something you could try for the next seven days?
Because your emphasis will be switched to developing your resilience, it may also help you remain off your phone – texts/emails, or even social media. If you use applications to help you with this, that’s wonderful; however, if you use your phone as a distraction, you’ll be dissatisfied and worried.
Making a long-term difference
While I have recommended that you try something new for the following seven days, this is only to get you started. A new habit usually takes at least 21 days to establish. Continuity is crucial when it comes to building resilience.