Yay!!! Snow Day!!! Wait…I Gotta Work…
As most parts of North Carolina are blanketed with beautiful white snow, a lot of households across the state are filled with the joyous squeals of school children rejoicing in their sudden freedom from the arduous toil of academia. It brings back memories of that same feeling when we lawyers were children, doesn’t it? Now, it is important to acknowledge that not all small children have this experience due to unfortunate circumstances in their homes. But, if this is a memory that we lawyers can share from our childhood, it is a pretty nice one.
Now, the wonderful feeling of a snow day no longer can bring the feeling of freedom, rest and fun when you are a practicing lawyer. There is always the feeling of work looming over us despite the rest of our neighborhoods emerging from their homes with sleds in hand and boots on feet. These “extra” days we get due to weather, like accumulated snow, now can represent extra days for us to work or catch up on things that have piled up. Isn’t this a shame? I mean, shouldn’t we ALL get the benefit of a snow day??
One of the attributes of a practicing lawyer that can be both positive and negative is our relentless work ethic. It can translate to a sound and prosperous living, or the foundation of obsessive and destructive behavior. Talk about a thin line. And the occurrence of this year’s first real snow day in central North Carolina got me thinking. Not that I could cuddle up with my son on the couch and watch cartoons all day (AWESOME!), but to snuggle up with my throw at my desk and make some headway on some work I have to do. If you are like me, I think we can do better than that.
I think snow days allow everyone to slow down to the same pace. Snow tends to shut everything down here in central North Carolina (which still blows my mind being a New Yorker) which may be a good thing. If everyone could take a break from tapping away at their laptops for this one day, it would allow us the ability to take stock of the warm place in which we sit to work and the fact that we have the basic tools in which to do our work despite the shutdown of the world outside. This perspective, I think, can only be good for us as practitioners because it reminds us the fortune we have in the type of work we do. We can work from home and accomplish things in times of inclement weather. Most American workers cannot say that. So why not pay homage to this benefit by taking a break when the snow is high outside?
The way I have historically trained myself to do this on these “extra” snow days is to shovel snow outside; in particular, my driveway. For many it is an arduous and annoying task, but I actually really like doing it. Shoveling snow is a very mechanical task for me. I don’t really have to think much when I am doing it. I am just pushing snow from one place to another. I find I don’t really think too much about work when I am doing it, either. I am just shoveling. That is it. It is the best at night, after the snow has just finished falling and the sky is so silent. Everything echoes due to the snow, but nothing is moving. It is very peaceful. When I task myself with being the person in my household to shovel snow, it allows me to keep my snow day, a true snow day, because I am preoccupied with a necessary task that is NOT legal work.
So, get out there and enjoy your “extra” snow day! We only get so many a season.
