Stress
Maybe I am biased, but the attorney’s stress level is like no other. Yes, there are jobs and professions that are a hell of a lot more stressful than that of the counselor at law: law enforcement, firefighter, foreperson on an oil rig in the middle of the sea. Yep, there are many a job or profession that is probably a lot more stressful than that of the attorney. But, I don’t know about those levels of stress. I only know of my level of stress.
So, what gives? Attorneys’ usual job description doesn’t entail hanging off the side of a burning building or making sure that thousands of gallons of oil don’t spill into the ocean. I think we can all agree that those instances are truly stressful. So why are our jobs/profession so damn stressful? Let’s talk about it.
Above, I mentioned very stressful professions. Those professions are inherently stressful because of the physical danger in which they place people. Now (God willing) I am not usually placed in physical danger when I go to work. So those apprehensions of being physically or grievously injured while at work don’t really contribute to the stress of the attorney’s job. That is not the type of stress from which we seem to suffer. But, if most of our stress is not linked to being physically in danger at work, wouldn’t you think that that fact in and of itself would make our jobs not nearly as stressful as those other professions? Of course, I turned to the web to do some research and came across a U.S. News and World Report article charting the most stressful jobs in America (https://money.usnews.com/careers/company-culture/slideshows/the-most-stressful-jobs , last accessed July 2, 2023). The profession of lawyer was ranked 20 out of 20. The police officer’s profession ranked 13 and firefighters ranked 12. The rankings seemed to depend on not only how physically demanding one’s job was, but what pressures were placed on the individual. Interesting. For me, I would think that the stress of believing you could be physically injured or die would rate as more significant in terms of stress than feeling the pressure to perform. But, not so much it seems.
We are entrusted with very important shit. Let’s face it. Whether it is important in the grand scheme of things (like one’s freedom) or just important to a particular person (they got ripped off by a bad building contractor) people rely upon us to save the day. People rely upon us to get the answer. People rely upon us to deliver to them “justice” or simply their money back. That is a lot with which to deal. And if you care about your clients and doing a good job, then bring on the added stress of our work. We take on too much pressure in which to do our jobs. Too much self-expectation and desire to deliver favorable results (or just results all together). Too much pressure to do a great job. A lot of that pressure comes from without, but I believe much of it comes from within. I heard a psychological clinician say that this is so consistent with most of our personalities. That most of us are type A individuals that make often unreasonable demands upon ourselves. Demands that are almost always next to impossible upon which to deliver. This is from where, I believe, much of our stress comes. These demands upon us are inextricably intertwined with the trust that is consistently invested in us. This trust in us makes us put demands upon ourselves to perform. That can be very stressful.
How can we deal with this level of stress? No luck this week my friends. I have no list to give you. I have no clue how to consistently and reliably deal with my stress. Every time I think I have the secret sauce, something happens where I find myself stressing out. All my tricks and habits that I have developed along the way, for some reason, aren’t effective at keeping some week’s stress at bay. But, is that realistic? That I will feel NO stress in my work ever? I thought I would write about this this week because in preparation for this past week’s work, I had a lot on my plate. I was in court every day except one and it was a lot. I found myself, all of a sudden, feeling anxious. I’m not one to get anxious too often. But when it happens, it surprises me. I have prided myself on developing good habits and strategies through the years to manage my stress. I have been good with compartmentalizing work. I have been good with exercising to help channel stress. I have been really good with maintaining healthy hobbies to provide for healthy distractions from work. So I get taken aback when despite all those constructive habits and practices, I start to feel even the little bit stressed out.
I think the first step in fighting the attorneys’ stress level is to honestly admit to ourselves that we feel it and that it is there. The second step is to make efforts to address it in a healthy way. We can’t continue to suppress the fact that our jobs stress us out from time to time. It’s not a weakness. It is a reality of the profession and work. Because if we don’t make efforts to address our stress in a healthy way, we will inadvertently or subconsciously address it in destructive ways. This is a subject that I feel it is okay for us to admit that we don’t know all the answers.
So, what did I do to address my stress this past week (this is not a list, is it?)? Well, I first acknowledged that I was feeling stressed and anxious about the upcoming week’s work. I talked to my law partner about it. I told a colleague. I then found myself asking myself why I was feeling so stressed; I mean really what was it about the upcoming week that was filling me with stress? When I was honest with myself about that, I realized that what was stressful for me was feeling like I may not be adequately prepared for the week’s tasks. So, I started with what I had to do Monday and devoted time to working on that issue; just that issue. I put the rest of the week on the shelf and just focused on that first thing. I found that when I did that, and addressed that first thing adequately, the tide turned. I all of a sudden, didn’t feel so anxious. I think what that did was lower the odds. I at least had ONE thing tackled. So, even if the remainder of things were less than perfect, at LEAST I had a handle on task number one.
Stress is not necessarily ALWAYS a bad thing. It keeps us on our toes and keeps us alive. But, sustained stress is not good. So we all have to learn ways in order to exit those stressful rooms in our proverbial houses and continue to appreciate the work that we do.
