Barriers
What are the top barriers to improved mental health and wellbeing in the law?
Most stem from a low sense of autonomy--lacking the feeling that we control our days and our time. We believe we are at the whim of others' needs and expectations--from our clients, our partners and colleagues, our families.
That is sometimes true and still: there are ways to build a greater sense of autonomy, to exert some control over each moment of your day, to make more choices, more decisions about what you choose to do with your time.
What hinders this? I think the top contributors are:
šµāš« the billable hour,
šµāš« interruptions + distractions,
šµāš« expectations + perfectionism,
šµāš« resistance to change, and
šµāš« unpredictability.
Below, you'll find my thoughts on why these hinder our mental health and wellbeing and some ideas on how to overcome them.
But, note: lawyers are not superhumans. We are not robots with special powers just because we got a JD and passed the bar. We are humans and our shared humanity sheds light on most of our profession's long-standing issues, as well as how to overcome and improve them.
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