Mental Health and Self-Care for Law Students: Strategies for Managing Stress and Well-Being
Law school can be stressful for you, your mind, and your body. We all have everyday stressors that are often interconnected and can be both big and small. It can be very overwhelming to look at all of our stressors and find a resolution to stop feeling this way. Luckily, we’ve come up with a few ways for you to de-stress and feel like yourself again with more rest and rejuvenation.
Identify the big problems
The first thing we need to do when wanting to tackle our most significant stressors is to find out what they are. Take time to sit down and really think about what you tend to worry about the most, and find the root cause. For example, maybe you’re stressed every time a test comes up. This could be simple test anxiety, or it could be because you’re feeling unprepared, or even because a lack of sleep is causing all those problems. After you’ve come up with a list, it is much easier to fix your problems because now you’ve named them.
Have a life outside of law school
Law school can feel lonely and daunting if all you’re doing is studying all the time. Instead, take time away from the books to hang out with friends, see your family, pick a new hobby, and spend time alone. The point is to distract yourself with other things in life that’ll make you happy. Otherwise, you’ll just be studying all the time. You need to give yourself breaks and time outside of that. In fact, this will significantly help to be used as a reward incentive for all your school work.
Self Care
While all this is happening, it’s important to prioritize yourself. You still need to care for yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, even socially. This Top Law Schools article deeply delves into what kind of self-care is essential and how to attain it. Self-care can seem like many unnecessary steps until you start to see a change in yourself. It’s important to prioritize it because you’ll be mentally and physically healthier with it. You’ll also feel a lot better about yourself.
Make a Schedule
There never seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done, but we can sure try! In order to prioritize all of this: school, extracurriculars, friends, and self-care, we need to schedule it, or else it won’t happen. Start by scheduling your class times and schedules. Things you need to be at. Next, schedule study times when you’ll need to hit the books. After that, schedule some time to hang out with friends. It could be a small everyday thing, maybe having lunch or dinner together, or a whole day out of the week to go out with them. Do this with family, too, even if it’s just a phone call here and there. Next, pick a hobby, or continue one, and find out how to make time for it. If you need to take classes for it, search for what classes you can find in your area. If you can do something at home or right outside, make time for that whenever you want. And finally: Self-care. You can do so many self-care things, so list them out and get to work! Schedule it wherever you can, whether it’s needing alone time or paying more attention to mental health. Even starting with a few minutes every day can make a difference.
Why you chose law school to begin with
When we’re stressed, we’re only thinking about all the bad things that have come with our situation. This is why it’s a good idea to sit down and take some time to think and maybe write down why you chose law school in the first place. Not only will you remember all the feelings surrounding this decision, but you will also remember the goals and aspirations you have to become motivated again. This can significantly help if you re-watch videos or movies or re-read articles you found inspiring about other law students or what law school can do to transform your life.
Strategize
Now that you’ve done all this work, it’s time to strategize your next steps. This New England Law Boston article lists several ways and tips to help you do this, including prioritizing sleep, diet, exercise, writing in a journal, meditation, stretching, seeking help, and more.
Conclusion
It’s difficult to do all these things mentioned at once, but with the right schedule and proper balance, anything is possible, and you’ll have help along the way. At Ivy Grad Services, we have plenty of resources in which you can explore more on our website. Here you will find our services, team members, blogs, and more helpful tools. Check out our blog on how to balance your studies, internship, and personal life as a law student and our other blog on what kind of services we offer to go into more detail. You can check out several testimonials to see if this would be a good fit for you. Law school doesn’t have to be this stressful, and with the right help, it won’t be.