(Hingham Bathing Beach Park, a great place to de-stress.)
Very often the people in my office (or reading my website) are under some type of stress. Either they are overwhelmed caring for an aging parent or ailing loved one, they are nervous about planning for their future and thinking about their death or disability, or someone close to them has passed away. I will often talk to my clients or their children about how they handle stress, because not dealing with it can hinder the legal process and strain family relationships.
Why would your lawyer care how you deal with stress? Someone who is overly stressed may not reach out for help because they are stuck in a place of thinking they have to “do it all.” They may rush to make decisions they later regret, just to get it over with. Or they will not follow through with the process because they don’t want to think about it. The legal process can be complicated by a client who is avoiding dealing with things because they feel overwhelmed.
Their stress may start affecting their job or family life, which puts the needed legal work on the back burner. And often times delaying a plan can lead to more costly work in the future. I would much rather help my clients put a plan in place early on in the process when it is generally most cost effective and less stressful, than deal with a client under pressure later.
Some ways to deal with stress are:
- Making sure you get outside for a walk every day,
- Eating healthy foods and drinking enough water,
- Scheduling in breaks, even if you don’t think you need them,
- Talking to a friend or counselor,
- Yoga or meditation,
- Swimming (one of my favorite ways to reduce stress),
- Knitting or other crafting,
- Writing in a journal.
Legal work is a team effort, and the team functions best when everyone is less stressed.
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.