This week’s post has caught me in the middle of trial preparations for an upcoming case. I have been preparing for weeks, but of course as I get down to the date of trial, all those unhelpful thoughts creep into my mind. Am I prepared enough? Have I read everything? What if I didn’t think of something I should have thought of?  But, I have grown tired of these trespassing thoughts. At some point, my preparation has to be enough.

            It has to be enough at some point people! I know other lawyers suffer from this same illness of feeling that we can always be doing something else to prepare or be ready for a trial or a deposition or some other exercise in the law. So, I found myself, this time around, being more effective at pushing those thoughts away. At some point we have to rely on our experience to guide us through the anxiety of feeling we are unprepared, when we damn well ARE prepared. This time around, I found my efforts more successful and it easier to convince myself that I was prepared and would be able to shift and adjust in those times something I didn’t prepare for was hurled at me.

            What I realized was that the fatigue that I got from my trespassing thoughts induced me to cast them off and feel less stress and anxiety. But, this doesn’t happen in every aspect of my practice. Having this experience spread to the rest of my practice more consistently is something I know I have to continually work toward. The practice doesn’t just encompass the actual application of our talents to the legal field. It also includes practicing how the practice itself can be held in check so that it doesn’t devour us whole. We shouldn’t give up on this notion. I think the effort is worth it to keep us all happy and content in as noble profession as this.