Law School Can Be Bad For Your Health

I have needed to get in shape for a while, but since my friend died earlier this month, it has become of premier importance to me. She was three years younger than me, and although I don't know what health issues she had, we had similar outward characteristics: We are both early middle age, had gained weight in law school, are working at our previous careers while taking on law clients and tackling that steep learning curve, are basically doing way too many things, trying to still have a social life, and not losing weight or excercising as much as we should.

I am not sure what she died of, but it scares me. Was it a stroke or a heart attack, or something else that would never affect me? They did not do an autopsy, so we will never know. But was it basically because she slacked on her health during law school and studying for the bar exam that she died at this young age?

I loved going to law school, and it was one of the best things I have done in my life. Absolutely loved it, and met some great people and added valuable skills to my repertoire! But it does take a toll, especially when you are working at the same time. I know they say to exercise and all of that during school and the bar exam, but it is so darn hard to do.

At any rate, her death has made my health of upmost  importance. I have

• started a diet
• started exercising, although just a little burst training everyday, but they say that can just be as good as longer periods of exercise
• started getting my house literally in order, decluttering and updating, modernizing (although the time this takes has added to my stress level. However I am determined to start looking at this as fun, as it should be.)
• tried to adopt the strategy of putting things in boxes that an old lawyer boyfriend of mine taught me. When you have too much going on, put everything in boxes in your head, and open only one of them at a time and deal with it before moving on to the next one. (This sounds like a guy thing, but I am willing to try it.)
• tried to start letting go of stress. Easier said than done. Think happy thoughts and visualize pretty places.
• started avoiding problem people. At this point in my life, I have one more friend, an old friend unfortunately, who just sets me on edge.She wants to argue about everything and acts like she is an expert on everything, even though she knows jack. She has a negative attitude and trys to bring you down. I know I am stressed when I concentrate too much on how much she is bothering me.
• tried to stop being perfect. I watched part of a great show on PBS the other night about the book The Art of Imperfection, or some such title. It was a great needed message.

Anyway, that is my game plan. It is good I wrote it down. I am sure I left some things out. But my mission is to try make as much money as I can (I desperately need to and am trying to be gazelle-like at it as Dave Ramsey says), be as good at my jobs as I can, and have as much fun as I can without going crazy.

I want to live long and strong and be as productive and happy as I can be. I have a lot of things I have to do. So I need to take care of myself.