Does This Practice Make Me Look Fat???
I am going to start this week’s post with a **Disclaimer** (true to lawyer form):
***WARNING: THIS WEEK’S POST MAY BE JUST TOO MUCH INFORMATION (TMI.) IF YOU ARE NOT TRYING TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT WILL (OR MAY, THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE) HAPPEN TO THE LAWYER IN MID-LIFE AND CAREER, YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE A PASS THIS WEEK. NO HARD FEELINGS.***
As we professionals age, we start to experience a lot of different things. A lot of different changes. We start to experience the inevitable feeling of confidence in some things due to our experience. We start to experience the knowledge that we know most of the people in the courtroom. We start to experience the routine of the practice. These are not bad things. These are the badges of honor that we have earned by being and staying in the business and practice for the length of time that we have. But in addition to all of these attributes, there come some unexpected side effects.
I have always had to keep an eye on my weight, all my life. And for the most part, I have been pretty successful in keeping it from reaching critical mass. But recently, I have not been able to manage my weight like I used to. Of course, since we are talking about biology, there can be a whole host of reasons why the struggle at my age (I AM a middle-aged woman over the age of 40) endures. But it got me thinking. Is the practice possibly now starting to make me fat? Amazingly, I was onto something.
According to a Careerbuilder.com survey, lawyers and judges are the professionals surveyed most likely to put on weight as a result of their jobs (https://press.careerbuilder.com/2012-06-06-Travel-Agents-Attorneys-Judges-and-Physicians-Among-Occupations-Most-Likely-to-Report-Weight-Gain-Finds-Annual-CareerBuilder-Survey , last accessed August 24, 2023). Say what?! According to the survey, we legal eagles can attribute any weight gain we experience to the stress and the sedentary nature of the job. I had a feeling I would have to get off my ass at some point during the workday. It never occurred to me that my sitting in private practice would start to be the death of me. When I was a prosecutor, especially a baby one, I was ALWAYS in court. And when I was in court, I rarely if ever sat down. I didn’t realize it but being euphemistically “the man” slimmed my waistline as a lawyer.
But now that I am in private practice, how can I make up for this? I DO go to court as a private practitioner, running up and down stairs and down halls as I do it, but not on such a regular schedule like it was when I was a prosecutor. But there has to be some hope at getting more active in private practice. One of my favorite judges said to me, when they took the bench, after having a long career in private practice, that after a month of being on the bench, they had gained about 10 pounds and their pants were starting to feel too tight. So, private practice kept THEM slim. Why the hell not me?
Y’all, I just cannot have this. Yet another peril of our professions has crept up on us. So, what can we do? Never give up! We cannot resign ourselves to let our professions literally drown us in lard. In addition, the stress that the weight changes can bring is something we have to watch out for. With everything I read about this type of weight gain, I know that patience is key. But I feel like whining sometimes; I don’t want to be patient. However, I know better.
I’m not a doctor, nor nutritionist. I am a lawyer. We don’t have to resign ourselves to all the foregone conclusions out there about where we end up as we trudge through our professional working life. Just like I profess that we should not die at our desks, we should also not be resigned to waddle to the retirement finish line.