By Dylan Zhang & Annie Xiao
Erring on the side of caution to not evoke unnecessary flashbacks to the infamous ‘modern lawyer’ seminar we’ve all experienced sometime during our law school career, here’s a couple of ideas from two law students who have seemingly discovered the formula to achieving supreme mental wellbeing!! (Not quite, but we’re working on it)
Synthesising from our vast pool of knowledge gathered during our one semes- trimester in in law school, there seems to be a couple of key factors.
Firstly, balance.
Considering the effort invested in studying, going to all your lectures and tutorials and attending all those networking events, you’d surely feel guilt free treating yourself, it’s about balance right? But for those of you who at least tried or just didn’t manage to reach all those goals you set at the beginning of term then it’s okay too – we ALL need to balance our lives. We’ve put together a bunch of ideas or things you should try out during your self- designated breaks this semester (trimester).
One word: Netflix.
Ok, maybe don’t spend all your weekends curled up in a ball practicing the life of a hermit, yes, you know what we are going to say next…
GO OUTSIDE AND EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES!!!!
Meet your friends who miss you very much, you know those friends that don’t go to UNSW and instead go to some places half way across Sydney.
All in all, despite trimesters making it a little more difficult to plan or even find the time to go out with them, try your best to guilt them into taking time to hang out with you, because after all it’s those friendships that you’re willing to trek half way across Sydney for that can be worth it.
If they don’t want to see you, then why not spend some quality time with your UNSW pals, instead of spending quality time in lectures scrolling through FB memes or looking for another shirt you really do not need, spend that time with them after uni! They’re stuck with you for the next few years of your degree anyway, may as well make the most of it 🙂
Do one thing that you always wanted to do but never have time to
Learn a new skill such as keeping your room tidy (strangely therapeutic)
Bake yourself a cake to celebrate Y.O.U.
Practice meditation! We recommend the app Headspace – check out their FREE set of really great guided relaxation & mindfulness meditation sessions!
Impulse buy something that you never had the guts or money to buy!
(Or maybe not)
Order what the person in front of you gets at the drive through #relatablecontent #weareallyoutubers
Shamelessly go out and eat that $18 avo on toast, that’s right, us millenials really don’t care about housing – why buy when you can just live for free with your parents for the rest of your life! (Ha ha)
But seriously, if you’re looking for the best, I swear you have to eat this before you graduate – then go to Cafe Cre Asion located near Hyde Park. It’s even got half sizes so you can feel less bad and for only $6 buy your way into happiness and debt.
Take time to reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well last semester.
We’re all about self-improvement (amirite) so as long as you keep on learning from the mishaps we’re all gonna be graduating with #firstclasshonours.
Make down a list of all the goals that you feel as though you achieved and those that you didn’t. Then you can really keep yourself accountable as to what your next big goals are for next term (yes most of us fall into the trap of slowly giving up on our goals by week 5).
Be honest with yourself. Law school specific goals could include:
- Do 80% of your readings
- Do more than one past paper before the final exam
- Get a higher CP mark then your previous course
Ah, isn’t it tiring reading all those love letters and thinking if someone is ever gonna write one for you … well fear not! Take yourself on a date! We’re all about preaching self love and self care. Look after yourself, as YOU are truly important and valuable to this universe. Do things like:
- Take yourself on a date to the movies! (Avoid horror, unless you’re into that)
- Buy yourself some ice cream and go to the beach
Secondly, develop a sense of PeRSonAL and PrOfesSIonal identity.
In all seriousness though, it is quite important to evaluate your motivation beyond achieving prestige and status by working in an elitist bIG-sIX LaW fIRm or earning big $$$.
This doesn’t mean become a monk and indict all material possessions, but rather, have another goal in mind when studying the law.
Having another goal or motivation for why you are in law school, other than making money, can assist you in multiple ways.
For example, when you inevitably compare yourself to others (pls avoid), by having intrinsic motivation, this may ease the pain when you get a pass in an assignment compared to some genius getting a distinction despite doing it on the day.
Having another intrinsic motivation for doing law can also help by motivating you to study harder than you would’ve otherwise, then you might be able to achieve the results that you deserve and be satisfied and happy!
Thirdly, have a couple of close friends which you can share basically anything with, this is important because sometimes all you need to do is rant a little and dispose of any frustration you may have, let the stress evaporate. Because law tends to be a tight cohort seeing that we see each other quite often, it should be easy to make new friends!
Fourthly, pet a dog next time you see one. Physical touch releases OXyTocIn which mediates stress and wellbeing. So next time you see a friend, give them a hug! Next time you see a cat give it a little pet! Owning pets is actually a really good way of shifting your perspective by realising that there is an entire side of life other than the daily toils of a law student. Of course this isn’t something than can be impulsively done, but it is something to keep in mind for the future, owning a dog literally improved my daily mood exponentially.
Good luck friends xoxo
Wellbeing at Law School 
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