Self-Care isn’t Selfish

It is summer. A time when many people take vacations. School is out. The weather is nice. Even the Supreme Court takes a break. Yet too often lawyers struggle with time off, regardless of what time of year it is. However, it shouldn’t be seen as selfish to take time for your self. Nor should it set you back in your professional suits. On the contrary, it is one thing our profession can start doing to make the whole profession better.

I have no shortage of things on my professional to-do list. Some days, it seems the list ends up longer than when I started. Yet I make it a priority to get family time and to have time for myself, time when I can wind down from the day and recharge for what is next.

Summers, weekends, these are perfect times to do it. Yet too many legal professionals I know work straight through these times, not even pausing to eat a healthy meal or get enough sleep. Too often these practices start in law school.

However, in our profession, which as we all know is a self-policing one, we need to start policing the firms and employers that discourage these necessary self-care practices. We have the ability to make the profession healthier. And we don’t even have to be selfish about it because self-care isn’t selfish.