Attorney Wellness

Wellness Wednesday: Practicing Gratitude Can Improve Your Well-Being

Michael 1 Comment

In last Friday’s post, I shared my resolution to express gratitude more often in 2024. I included a link on how to do so that is not directly related to the legal profession. Today, I write to follow-up with a message from a lawyer regarding Friday’s column, as well as to share a link to a blog post on practicing gratitude by two attorneys who are among the leading voices on lawyer well-being.

Practicing gratitude can be difficult. Both as lawyers and in our personal lives, we often find ourselves in situations where it is hard to discern anything for which to be thankful.

But remember – you can do hard things 

Indeed, one Vermont lawyer is practicing what I preached. Here’s the lawyer’s response to the thoughts I shared last week on gratitude:

  • “I love the reminder about gratitude! I’ve been thinking about that topic myself. Lately, when I’m complaining about something in my head and notice I’m doing it, I stop complaining and think, ‘Thank you.’ I don’t yet know what I’m thankful for – I just say it. Then something pops into my head, usually a reverse of whatever I’ve been complaining about in my head. For example, I was grumpy about going to work recently, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to go deal with other people’s problems.’ I noticed the grumbling and then thought, ‘Thank you.’ Then, after I thought thank you, this popped into my head: ‘Thank you that I have a job that matters. Thank you that I can help people with things they really need. Thank you I get to serve my community.’ It sounds hokey, but it’s often quite effective.”

I love it!  And it is NOT hokey! Indeed, when it comes to employing strategies to improve well-being, NOTHING that is effective is hokey. 

Rebecca Howlett and Cynthia Sharp are lawyers who together founded The Legal Burnout Solution.  Their website is a fantastic resource for material related to well-being in the legal profession. (Full disclosure: last September, Becky and Cindy had me as a guest on their podcast. It’s here.)

In December of 2022, the ABA Journal published The Legal Burnout Solution: How to Improve Well-Being Through Gratitude. In the article, Becky and Cindy provide an overview of the “several realms in which scientists have shown the correlation between a gratitude practice and positive outcomes on our physical and mental health.” They go on to provide tips on “cultivating gratitude.”  I recommend reading the post and considering whether to take up (or maybe add to those you already employ) even one of the suggested practices. As Becky and Cindy conclude:

  • “As you do these gratitude practices, notice how your body and mind feel and focus on feelings of appreciation and thankfulness for all the blessings and abundance in your life. Strive to take this feeling and state of being with you as you go on with your day or drift off to sleep. Even instituting one of these practices on a consistent basis can lead to significant, positive effects on your overall health and well-being.”

Might it be hard?  Yes.  But again, you can do hard things.

As always, let’s be careful out there.

PS:  We’re almost up to 50 legal professionals who have taken The Well-Being Pledge.  To join them, all you have to do is email me!

Related Posts:

Wellness Wednesday: A Simple Pledge

Michael

Family first! Happy Birthday Dad!

Now, on to business.

The ABA Well-Being Pledge launched in 2018.  Adopted to “challenge the status quo,” the pledge self-describes as a “campaign of innovation to improve the substance abuse and mental health landscape in the legal community.”  Pledges agree to support a 7-point framework that was designed to “reduce substance abuse disorders and mental health distress in the legal community.”  The pledge and the 7-point framework can be found here.

I think the ABA Pledge is fantastic and I fully support the important work done by those who conceived of it.  Among them, Patrick Krill, one of the leading voices on issues related to the well-being of the legal profession.  A few weeks ago, Patrick shared his thoughts on the pledge’s anniversary in this post for the ABA Journal.[1] I encourage Vermont’s legal professionals to review the pledge and to consider taking it.

That said, and perhaps spurred by my effort to use the 7 Cs of Legal Ethics to simplify the Rules of Professional Conduct, I’ve wondered if a pared down version of the pledge might be more to Vermont’s scale.  I think the answer is “yes.”  Here’s what I propose for Vermont. 

  1. I pledge to look out for my own well- framework being.
  2. I pledge to look out for the well-being of colleagues in Vermont’s legal community.

If you agree, email me and I’ll add your name to this blog’s newest page.

For more information on how to look out for your own well-being and the well-being of colleagues, visit my resources page.  I’m a big fan of the ABA’s Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers, as well as its companion, the Well-Being Toolkit in a Nutshell: 80 tips for Lawyer Thriving.

Be kind to yourself.  Be kind to others.

Peace.

PS:  a few weeks ago, in footnote 3 to this post, I remarked that I might use my chemo sessions to post pictures reminiscent of the social media phenomenon “first day of grade ___.”  From Monday, here’s Chemo: First Day of Round 2.

[1] Patrick noted: “Now, as we look ahead to 2024 and beyond, we find no shortage of looming stressors and ongoing problems that continue to threaten our mental health and diminish our well-being. Life is changing, but it isn’t getting easier. As a result, the five-year anniversary of the pledge marks an important and appropriate time to simultaneously celebrate the progress the campaign has enabled while redoubling our efforts and committing to do more.”  In other words, our work continues.  Indeed, as I wrote in We’ve Only Just Begun to Begin, Patrick and I share the same sentiment in a related context.  

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Wellness Wednesday: A Positive Approach

Michael 2 Comments

Yesterday’s trip home from Boston was a big for me. 

First, it was during the drive that I committed to sharing my thoughts on the Taco Bell petition. Fewer than 24 hours after going live, the post is already one of the more well-received in the history of Ethical Grounds.

Second, on the way back, I stopped in Montpelier to present a wellness seminar for the Washington County Bar Association.  The discussion reinvigorated me and left me convinced that our work on wellness is both work well done and work worth continuing to do.

Until meeting with the members of the WCBA, I’d been in a bit of a wellness rut.  In May and June, I presented several CLEs on the topic as lawyers hustled to satisfy their reporting obligation. I noticed a distinct wellness fatigue.  It manifested in remarks like:

  • “I’ll do wellness on my own, don’t force me to do it.“
  • ‘Talking about how unwell the profession is makes me worse, not better.”
  • “We listen to you tell us that wellness is so important, so how come we don’t get CLE credit for the things we do to take care of ourselves?”

Trust me, I get it. And I will do whatever anyone asks of me to amplify their concerns with the Court and MCLE Board.

What I won’t do is stop presenting on wellness & well-being.

I arrived at Café Noa (a great spot for a CLE) nervous that it’d be another vent session.  It wasn’t. Rather, it was an uplifting conversation that showed me that our work on wellness & well-being has resulted in a healthier bar. 

Examples:

  • The lawyer who observed that connecting wellness & well-being to the duty of competence has provided a platform that allows supervisors to remind staff and younger lawyers of the importance of self-care.
  • The lawyers who shared their strategies to combat work addiction – that is, strategies they’ve adopted to allow themselves truly to be present in whatever they’re doing when they’re away from work.
  • The many lawyers who, when I asked the group to identify the 5 pillars of our overall well-being, instantly responded “physical well-being.”  And, from there, the many more who shared the steps they’ve taken to incorporate physical well-being into their routines.
  • When I asked what another of the pillars might be, the lawyer who immediately replied, “emotional well-being.”  It’s my favorite of the pillars to discuss and we had a lively give & take on the importance of (1) recognizing that we will experience negative emotions; (2) identifying those emotions & accepting that it’s okay to experience them; and (3) realizing that while we cannot necessarily control what caused the negative emotion, we can always control our response thereto.

Those are but a smattering of the many inspiring comments that WCBA members shared.

Here’s how the discussion left me feeling.

Maybe some of the wellness fatigue has been my fault.  It’s not uncommon for me to harp on the sobering statistics and to share the saddest of stories.  I’d grow tired of me too.

Instead, what I should be doing is what the WCBA did yesterday.  We focused on the positive and shared thoughts on keeping ourselves well.  And “keeping ourselves well” is exactly what all this is supposed to be about.

On that, kudos to Sidney Collier.  When Sidney invited me to speak, she asked me to present the “positive side” of wellness. That’s not typical – usually offices and groups ask me to stress why wellness is so important. So, as requested, I do, using the startling statistics that reflect the extent to which behavioral health issues pervade the profession.

The positive approach was better.  Sid – thank you!  It’s the approach I plan to employ going forward.

Also, many thanks to Heather Devine.  Heather introduced me to the group yesterday and has long-supported not only my wellness work as bar counsel, but my own personal wellness efforts.  Heather is one of two lawyers whose encouragement resulted in the video chronicle of me teaching myself to make bread.  And here’s the follow-up video in which I begged not to be disbarred from the ranks of the bread makers for violations that were completely of my own doing and for which Heather is entirely blameless.

And, last but not least, thank you to the members of the WCBA who attended.  As of 12:29PM yesterday, I’d let doubt start to creep in.  It’s gone.  To learn about so many lawyers & legal professionals taking steps to improve their own health as well as the health of their colleagues & co-workers was inspiring.  Especially given that it wasn’t that long ago that yesterday’s discussion was one that we avoided — and one that by avoiding, we created too many statistics.

We’ve come a long way.  We’re healthier for it.  And there’s no reason that we should stop now.

Related Material

On wellness, a lawyer’s story shows that we must continue the work to destigmatize our teammates’ help-seeking behavior.

Michael

Two weeks ago, Lawyers with Depression posted The Trials & Tribulations of a Trial Lawyer with Depression.  I’m not going to describe or summarize it.  If you have time, please read it.  Everything that follows is in response to the anonymous lawyer’s post.  Also, “everything that follows” comes down to four words:

We must do better.

Last summer, the Institute for Well-Being in Law ran Ben Carpenter’s Making Well-Being an Expectation in Attorney-Client Relationships.  Carpenter wrote:

  • “There is a stigma around well-being, as if adopting behaviors that support well-being may compromise a lawyer’s ability to provide exceptional service. Well-being is a responsibility, not a luxury, that is an integral component of our collective ability to satisfy our duty of competency.  Adopting behaviors that support well-being is not only necessary to the profession, but it makes us better lawyers.”

Similarly, a key theme in the 2018 State Action Plan issued by the Vermont Commission on the Well-Being of the Legal Profession is the need to destigmatize help-seeking behavior.  As the Commission’s Legal Employers Committee succinctly recommended:

  • “Legal employers should establish a confidential reporting procedure for lawyers and staff to use internally and establish a procedure for lawyers to seek confidential help for themselves without being penalized or stigmatized.”

I could cut & paste forever, from a variety of sources and voices.  But without action, the recommendations are mere platitudes, and we will continue to learn of experiences like the anonymous lawyer’s. So, I’m keeping this post short.

  • To legal employers:  Empower and encourage your employees to seek help without stigma.
  • To legal employees:  It’s okay not to be okay.  It’s okay to ask for help. Help is available.

As noted in the ABA Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers, “We are happiest and healthiest when we adopt healthy work habits and lifestyle choices. Importantly, though, we won’t be successful on our own. Well-being is a team sport.”

Let’s continue to work to become the best team we can be.

Resources:

Related Posts:

In my opinion, it’s the profession’s well-being that should be non-negotiable.

Michael

NOTE: Updated April 6 to include ABA Journal link

Hello!

It’s been a while.  For too long, any attempt to draft a new post has resulted in nothing but a blank space.  So that there’s no bad blood, rest assured, it’s not you. Rather, lacking any motivation to blog, I’m the problem, it’s me.  Today, however, a story that’s related to professional responsibility has helped me to shake it off.  By now, readers who know me all too well likely have guessed the story’s topic.

That’s right: wellness.

Over the past few days, a slide from a presentation done for newer associates by an associate at a global law firm has gone viral. Among others, Law.Com, Legal Cheek, and the ABA Journal have coverage.  Here’s the slide:

As the ABA Journal reported, the firm released a statement to Law.Com indicating that “the views expressed do not reflect the views of the firm or its partners.” Nevertheless, here’s another excerpt from the ABA Journal’s post:

“Tom Sharbaugh, a former Morgan, Lewis & Bockius managing partner who’s now a professor of practice at the Pennsylvania State University’s law school, told Law.com that he thinks that messaging similar to the associate’s advice may be prevalent at many elite firms.“

“I think you’re expected to just be always available, regardless of what they say about work-life balance and wellness and all that stuff,” Sharbaugh said. “At the end of the day, you’re married to the firm.”

So far, not exactly a love story.

Reaction to the story, however, served to remind me of the good and important work that so many have done to assist law firms and legal employers to make the workplace healthier.

A few weeks ago I posted We’ve Only Just Begun To Begin.  In brief, the post argues that it’s not enough to provide assistance and resources to legal professionals in need.  In addition, we must also work to reduce the root causes of stress, anxiety, and burnout.  That is, and as Patrick Krill noted in When Our Stress Becomes Dangerous, we must “the more stubborn forces of inertia, maladaptive attitudes, entrenched business models and extrinsic motivations.” With today’s viral slide in mind, perhaps the most entrenched and stubborn of those root causes are unreasonable workloads and unreasonable work expectations.

My wellness presentations also include a slide that contains the numbers 24/7/365.  The slide follows one in which I ask this question:

“What three numbers do not appear in Rules 1.3 or 1.4 of the Vermont Rules of Professional Conduct?”

When I show the “answer” slide, I acknowledge that, yes, there will be situations that arise outside “regular” work hours that require lawyers to provide clients with immediate assistance or attention.  However, I add that the duties of diligence and communication are modified by the word “reasonable.” Further, I remind legal professionals that making time for things other than work and clients is an aspect of wellness, with wellness, in turn, an aspect competence.

More succinctly, here’s a comment that’s in the ABA Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers:

“We are happiest and healthiest when we adopt healthy work habits and lifestyle choices. Importantly, though, we won’t be successful on our own. Well-being is a team sport.”

I can sense your thoughts: “Mike, what can I do to encourage my team to adopt healthy work habits and lifestyle choices?” I’m glad you asked! 

In addition to the ABA Well-Being Toolkit, I recommend the condensed version: the ABA Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers in a Nutshell: 80 tips for Thriving.  Also, I’m a big fan of the  recommendations made by the Legal Employers Committee in the 2018 State Action Plan issued by the Vermont Commission on the Well-Being of the Legal  Profession.[1]

I don’t expect to learn that a Vermont firm or legal employer has adopted expectations that mirror those in today’s viral slide.  Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.  Check out the resources.  Find one change that makes sense for you and your colleagues. When it comes to the profession’s health and well-being, every small improvement matters.

And, in my opinion, improving our health and well-being is what should be non-negotiable.

As always, let’s be careful out there.

[1] In particular, today’s viral slide reminded me of prior posts in which I’ve referenced the Legal Employers Committee’s recommendations and shared on work/life boundaries, billable hours, making wellness an expectation of the attorney-client relationship, and the importance of valuing employees as people.

Previous Wellness & Well-Being Posts

Wellness Wednesday: We’ve only just begun to begin.

Michael 4 Comments

Note: this post references suicide and suicidal ideation. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, contact one of the numbers at the Vermont Suicide Helpline.  It’s okay to ask for help and help is available.

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I posted Lawyers Helping Lawyers on March 3, 2016.  My first ever post to address lawyer wellness & well-being, it introduced readers to the now well-known Hazelden Study that revealed “substantial and widespread levels of problem drinking and other behavioral health problems in the U.S. legal profession.”

Since then, Vermont’s legal community has done an admirable job promoting a healthier profession. Our work has been both big & small, running the gamut from the 2018 State Action Plan issued by the Vermont Commission on the Well-Being of the Legal Profession to the fact that we now (gasp!!) openly discuss wellness.

As well as we’ve done, we’ve only just begun.

If this sounds familiar, maybe it is.  In 2019, I posted Attorney Wellness: We’ve Only Just Begun. In it, I wrote:

“Last November, Above The Law posted Burnout, Flame Out, Or Timeout?  The post was spurred by the fact that a lawyer named Paul Rawlinson had “taken a leave of absence to recover from the sheer exhaustion of running the second-largest law firm in the world.” In the post, author James Goodnow pitched an argument I’ve often made, albeit in a way much more eloquently than I.  He wrote:

  • “If the classic answer to the increasing demands of the legal marketplace has been to get tougher, let me once again advocate for a new approach: getting ‘realer.’ We need to let go of the outdated concept of the inhuman, never-tired, always-working hero attorney and replace it with the vision of actual human beings, because that’s what we all are. We’re people, with physical and mental limitations, lives and families outside of work, and interests beyond briefing, drafting, and billing hours. We need to take better care of one another, at all levels, and take better care of ourselves.”

Flash forward to very sad news.  Paul Rawlinson, the attorney who took the leave of absence?  He died last Friday.  Above The Law reported on his passing.

Rawlinson’s death crystallized a thought that’s been nagging me since the State Action Plan issued: we’ve only just begun.

Have we raised awareness? Yes, we have, and it’s a damned good thing that we have.

But it’s not enough.”

Later in the same post, I cited to two sections that appear in the ABA’s Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers. 

The first:

“We are happiest and healthiest when we adopt healthy work habits and lifestyle choices. Importantly, though, we won’t be successful on our own. Well-being is a team sport.”

The second:

“This means that, if we truly desire to improve wellbeing, we can’t focus only on individual strategies like making lawyers more resilient to stress; it is equally important (if not more so) to focus on systemically improving our professional cultures to prevent problems from developing to begin with. We are interdependent in that our organizational and institutional cultures—to which we all contribute and which, in turn, shape us all—have a huge impact on our individual well-being. When our cultures support our well-being, we are better able to make good choices that allow us to thrive and be our best for our clients, colleagues, and organizations.”

Whew!

This has been a long-winded way of getting to today’s point: we’ve only begun to begin. We must continue to work to make the profession healthier. 

Last month, MDPI published Stress, Lonely, and Overcommitted: Predictors of Lawyer Suicide Risk.  The report details a study into the predictors of lawyer suicide risk.  Numerous outlets reported on the study, including Psychology Today, Reuters, Above The Law, and The ABA Journal. Here’s an excerpt from Psychology Today’s coverage:

“Until now, very little has been studied about the specific predictors of lawyer suicide risk. New research suggests that high levels of perceived stress, high levels of work overcommitment, loneliness, and being male are all significantly associated with an increased risk of suicidal ideation among lawyers. Specifically, the risk of suicidal ideation was:

  • 2.2x higher among lawyers with high work overcommitment;
  • 1.6x higher among lawyers with an intermediate level of work overcommitment;
  • 2.8x more likely for lawyers who screened as lonely compared to those who did not screen as lonely;
  • 1.8x more likely for lawyers with a history of at least one mental illness diagnosis;
  • 22x more likely for those lawyers with high perceived stress;
  • 5.5x more likely for those with intermediate perceived stress.”

Patrick Krill is one of the study’s authors.  Following its release, The American Lawyer published Patrick’s commentary When Our Stress Becomes Dangerous.  I recommend reading it.  When I first read it, I was struck by this paragraph:

  • “To be fair and optimistic, it is important to note that meaningful efforts to improve mental health have been underway and gaining momentum in the legal profession for the last several years, and many dedicated individuals are doing excellent work. As someone whose earlier research and advocacy helped ignite the current push for improved wellbeing in the legal profession, I have sincere gratitude for the progress we’ve made. But I also know the goal line remains elusively far away, and often obscured by the more stubborn forces of inertia, maladaptive attitudes, entrenched business models and extrinsic motivations.”

This is the point that I was trying to make in 2019’s We’ve Only Just Begun.  I feel now like I did then. 

Earlier today I sent Patrick a message. Referring to the recent study, I asked:

  • “Would this be a fair takeaway? That, as good as it is that we are providing more resources (and understanding) to legal professionals who seek help for behavioral health issues, it’s as important that we start to address the root causes. For instance, unreasonable workload expectations.”

Patrick’s response included:

  • “Yes, that is absolutely a fair takeaway from the most recent study. It is important to take a dual approach of providing resources and addressing root causes. To date, the profession has really only been doing half of what is needed by providing resources.”

Here in Vermont, there’s good news: we have a map to help navigate the beginning of our journey down the second half of what’s needed.  That map is part of the 2018 Action Plan.  Specifically, it’s the report from the Commission’s Legal Employers Committee. 

Whether here or at seminars, I’ve often stated my appreciation for the Legal Employers Committee report.

In this post, I noted the positive response to the Committee’s recommendation that employers:

  • “Consider a policy that employees should not—apart from emergencies—check their work email during non-working hours. Moreover, employers should allow all legal professionals to set reasonable boundaries on responding to emails, for example, letting clients know that barring an emergency, they may not get an email response immediately, but the employee will respond within a certain period of time.”

In another post, I noted my support for this suggestion:

  • “In firms that impose billable hour quotas on attorneys, assess whether and how that quota system may be contributing to unproductive competition, excessive stress, and unhealthy work habits. In large firms, an anonymous survey may be the best way to assess this issue. In smaller firms, it can be done through simple observation. If a quota system appears to be encouraging unhealthy behavior and excessive stress, modify it, eliminate it, or consider alternatives.”

Most recently, I referenced the Legal Employers Committee in this post about a California study that found that lawyers who perceive their employers to value them for their human worth reported feeling healthier than lawyers who perceive their employers to value them as revenue-producers, if at all. I connected the study to the Legal Employers Committee’s conclusion that:

  • “Legal employers, meaning all entities that employ lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants, can play a pivotal role in promoting and maintaining lawyer well-being.”

Okay. Pause.

I feel like I’ve gone on far too long and have lost my point.  My point is this: we’ve only begun to begin.

Yes, helping those in need is great. And it’s great that we’ve started to destigmatize help-seeking behavior. And it’s great that we’ve started to decouple assistance from discipline.  And it’s great that we now provide resources and referrals to those in need.

But why wait until they’re in need? Let’s do more to keep the need from arising.  Let’s address unreasonable workloads and work expectations, inflexible scheduling, extreme incivility, and other “maladaptive attitudes and entrenched business models” that are harming members of the profession. 

And it’s got to be more than blog posts, social media posts, and CLE presentations. It requires action in your offices.  Action that is as easily begun as perusing either the Legal Employers Committee’s section of the 2018 State Action Plan, the ABA Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers, or the ABA Well-Being Toolkit Nutshell: 80 Tips For Lawyer Thriving.

There’s no better or more important time to begin than now.

Note: Patrick Krill is the speaker in one of the virtual CLE options that’s part of the VBA’s upcoming Mid-Year Meeting. Go here for more information on the meeting and Patrick’s seminar “Mental Health and Well-Being as a Strategic Priority for a Sustainable Profession.”

Previous Wellness & Well-Being Posts

Wellness Wednesday: Don’t Stresslax

Michael 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to discuss wellness.  Today’s topic: tips on recognizing and responding to anxiety.

I’ll cut straight to the chase: I recommend The Legal Burnout Solution: How to Identify and Manage Attorney Anxiety.  It’s by Cynthia Sharp and Rebecca Howlett and appears in the latest report from the ABA’s Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division.

I’ve mentioned Cynthia before.  I first encountered her through her work with The Sharper Lawyer. Later, I heard nothing but rave reviews for a presentation Cynthia did for the Bennington County Bar Association. Finally, I was honored that Cynthia referenced me in a post she did for the ABA Journal on how best to respond to negative online reviews.

A few years ago, Cynthia and Becky Howlett started The Legal Burnout Solution.  They’re doing good and important work.  Their piece in the GPSolo report shares great strategies on identifying and managing stress.  While I urge people to read the entire article, I’m going to highlight a paragraph that resonated with me.

I’ve often used this space to remind legal professionals to make time for interests outside the law. When Jennifer Emens-Butler was with the Vermont Bar Association, she did the same via her Pursuits of Happiness column in the VBA Journal. Well, now we can add Cynthia and Becky to the chorus — and we can introduce a new word to our lexicon!  Here’s one of their tips to manage anxiety:

  • “Have fun! On average, children laugh 300 times a day, whereas an adult generally laughs only 17 times per day. Often as attorneys, we over-prioritize our work and under-prioritize play, even to the point of ‘stresslaxing’ where we worry about what we ‘should be’ doing when we are trying to have fun. Consciously set aside time to do activities that bring you fulfillment and joy and make you laugh! Channel your inner child and do the things that brought you joy when you were younger—have a water balloon fight, go to an amusement park, play in the mud. Whatever the activity may be, give yourself permission to relax and play and just be in the moment. Laughter is medicine!”

They are so right! And I LOVE the term “stresslaxing.”

I’m terrible at practicing what I preach.  At countless CLEs and in numerous blog posts, I’ve urged legal professionals to consider not just time away from work, but time that they’re fully away from work.  For example, setting and honoring boundaries, or, making sure that vacation includes a vacation from devices.  Alas, not only do I rarely take time off, when I do, I reflexively, or perhaps compulsively, respond to work matters that, in a vacuum, I know can wait until I’m back. 

Why?  Because I constantly worry that I should be available and responding.  That’s stresslaxing. It’s not good and I know I’m not alone.

Instead, all of us should heed Cynthia and Becky’s advice:

Don’t stresslax! 

When making time for something outside the law, fully commit to enjoying it!  It is perfectly okay to do so and it is exactly what you are supposed to be doing when you’re there. Also, for you supervisors, strive to ensure that your employees know that it’s not only okay to be fully away, it’s healthy and it’s expected.

Previous Wellness Wednesday Posts

Connect & Contribute

Michael 2 Comments

It’s Well-Being Week in Law. Today’s theme is social well-being.  The focus is on connecting with others within our communities. Doing so fosters a sense of belonging and provides us with a reliable support network, critical components of social well-being.

Many of us are part of communities both in our work and personal lives.  Examples include practice areas and interests that we have outside the law. There are many ways to contribute to those communities.  As this activity guide makes clear, it can be as easy as expressing gratitude or doing something nice for someone.

I’ve been encouraging members of the Vermont legal community to do ONE thing to participate in Well-Being Week in Law. Imagine the result if a lot of us chose a random act of kindness? Or to thank someone?

I’ll start.

Judge Colleen Brown: thank you for all you did for the Vermont bar during your tenure as United States Bankruptcy Judge. I’m especially grateful for your support for wellness related initiatives within the profession.  Happy retirement!

Karen Allen, fellow member of both the legal and running communities: thank you for letting me know about the random acts of kindness you recently decided to make part of your daily runs!

Sarah Katz: thank you for suggesting that we honor Well-Being Week in Law by going for a run from the office yesterday morning.  It was great!

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Finally, mom.  Thank you for the wave as I was filming today’s video from my deck.  And thank you for the mint plant that is on the deck.  I forgot to include it in today’s video but look forward to enjoying a few of its crushed leaves during the Kentucky Derby!

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For anyone interested in 8 more minutes of social well-being, in today’s video, I eulogize my external camera, steal an idea from one of my basketball players, share one of my favorite things about United States Bankruptcy Judge Colleen Brown, and urge us to reach out to the members of our community who no longer feel connected.

I Made Bread

Michael 3 Comments

Happy Hump Day!  I have big news to report.

First, my sense is that many in the Vermont legal community are participating in Well-Being Week in Law.  And now I have proof!  Congratulations to the folks at Dunkiel Saunders!  Yesterday, Melinda Siel let me know that, over lunch, the firm had a lively game of Viking Chess on the lawn and that they’re doing something related to wellness each day this week.  This makes Dunkiel Saunders the first Vermont firm or office to reach out to me to confirm participation!  True to my word, I’m here to launch them to internet fame! If you or your office/firm is participating, let me know.  I’ll post the entire list on Saturday.

And that’s not the only big news!

I am here to report that, yesterday, I made bread.  The official video chronicling the endeavor is here:

Now, I know what you’re asking yourself.  “Self, why is it big news that Mike made bread?”  Fear not my friends! I have the answer.

Today’s theme is Intellectual Well-Being.  Continuing to grow intellectually is an important component of our overall well-being. We should strive to grow both at work and in our personal lives.

For instance, at work, you might resolve to wade into a new area of law. Or, take a pro bono case in an area that you don’t typically practice. Remember, even if the area is new to you, the person you’ll help is far better off with your assistance than they would be if left to their own devices.

Similarly, in your personal life, stagnation doesn’t do much for well-being. We need new interests and challenges.  To that end, on this day during last year’s Well-Being Week in Law, I resolved to learn how to make bread.  It took me 364 days to get around to it, but I did it!  Many thanks to the First Brother for his assistance, and to Nicole Killoran and Heather Devine for supporting this project from the start and checking-in, both periodically and gently, on my, umm, “progress.”

That’s the news for today. If you’re interested participating in Well-Being Week in Law, here’s an activity guide.  Or, like Dunkiel Saunders and me, find your own thing.  After all, and as we know, well-being is personal.

As always, be well and may the 4th be with you.

Consider participating in Well-Being Week in Law. Nothing is too small . . . and there are prizes!

Michael 2 Comments

Next week is Well-Being Week in Law. Conceived and promoted by the Institute for Well-Being in Law (IWIL), the event’s goals are “to raise awareness about mental health and to encourage action and innovation across the profession to improve well-being.”

I encourage you, your co-workers, and your colleagues to participate, even if only by doing something that might seem “small” or “inconsequential.”  Indeed, as we know too well, when it comes to improving the profession’s well-being, there is no step too small to help. For example, sending a “thank you” note. Surely, someone at your office has time (and reason) to express gratitude at some point next week!

Of course, Well-Being Week in Law features many additional activities and opportunities to promote well-being. Legal professionals can participate as individuals, with a friend/colleague/co-worker, or as an entire office/firm. There’s something for everyone!

And speaking of everyone, you lawyers, don’t forget to include your non-lawyer staff. They are much a part of the profession as lawyers!

Each day focuses on a different aspect of wellness:

Each Day

IWIL’s participation guide includes dozens of suggestions for each day, breaking the suggestions into things to read, things to watch or listen to, and things to do.  For instance, on Monday, legal professionals might

Or, for the legal professional who has an Apple Watch, Vermont lawyer Tammy Heffernan has offered to host a month-long challenge associated with well-being. Tammy set it up so that there are both team and individual challenges. Instructions on how to sign-up are at the end of this letter.

There are other ways to participate in Well-Being Week.

The event coincides with May being Mental Health Awareness Month. So, next week, you and your co-workers might consider the daily challenges in the 31-Day Mental Health Challenge.

In addition, I plan to host virtual discussions on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The discussions will begin at noon and focus on the day’s theme. All are welcome. Each morning, I’ll post a link to join that day’s discussion on my blog. The videos I recorded last year provide a flavor of the discussions.

Again, the participation guide is chock full of ideas.

Finally, well-being is not “one size fits all.’  It’s personal. As the participation guide states:

Pick & Choose to Fit Your Needs

WWIL is designed so that people and organizations can participate in any way that fits their goals and capacities. If you want to participate in multiple things every day, that’s great. But also feel free to select only a few things over the entire week that match your priorities.

As I mentioned, there’s something for everyone. I encourage you to find what works for you and to encourage your colleague and co-workers to do the same.

Oh! One last thing. With participation comes reward(s)!

IWIL is offering legal professionals a chance to win prizes by completing the 2022 Well-Being Week in Law Participation Survey.  Or, you can show your commitment to well-being by participating in the Social Media Challenge.  Finally, I will use my blog and Twitter account to mention any member of Vermont’s legal community who lets me know that they, their co-workers, or their office/firm participated, even if just barely, in Well-Being Week.

Thank you for considering ways that you and your co-workers might participate in 2022 Well-Being Week in Law.

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P.S. – thank you Tammy!

APPLE WATCH TEAM CHALLENGE

”VT Attorney Well Being Team Challenge ”

First, download Challenges: https://challengesapp.app.link/download

Once you have the app, enter invite code: ‘cheu’ or tap on the link below to join:

https://sync.challenges.app/invite?eligibilitycode=cheu

APPLE WATCH INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGE

“VT Attorney Individual Challenge”

First, download Challenges: https://challengesapp.app.link/download

Once you have the app, enter invite code: ‘kfdk’ or tap on the link below to join:

https://sync.challenges.app/invite?eligibilitycode=kfdk

Related Resources

Previous Wellness Wednesday Posts