Staying Disciplined in Recovery

If you were studious enough to get through college, get into law school, get through law school, and pass the bar, you obviously know a thing or two about discipline. Even if you are still somewhere on that path, you’ve shown discipline to get to where you are today. Yet staying disciplined in recovery is something different, and sometimes our attorney-discipline gets in the way of our recovery discipline.

For me, this was something I struggled with. I knew how to study, knew how to research and write and do all the things lawyers and law students need to do. Yet my focus on what I needed to get done for my career often distracted me from what I needed to get done in my recovery. The case briefs would push out my time to meditate or journal, the hours in the library would keep me from getting the sleep I knew I should be getting, and bit by bit my recovery slipped.

I think it is different for everyone. For me, it was about adding my recovery routines into my work routines. The time I allowed to brief a case, I added ten minutes in for journaling. I gave my self deadlines of turning off my work and turning off my lawyer brain each night (and I didn’t allow myself any continuances).

Others law students and lawyers I know set aside one day a week as their mental health day, usually a weekend day for obvious reasons. One professional I know simply doesn’t leave his house on Sundays. Those are his days to rest and recharge.

However, you do it, know that being disciplined and making time for yourself doesn’t take away from your abilities as an attorney. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, set realistic self-care goals for yourself, and make a plan to achieve those goals. And most important, give yourself credit for the work you are doing and grace for the mistakes you make. The great thing about being undisciplined in your recovery one day is that you can always start again the next day.