Is law school synonymous with losing yourself? Can we have one without the other?

Is it possible to get through your time studying law without losing your sense of self or personal identity? 

I’m sure you’ve heard the stereotype that all law students are anxious and depressed. It’s true that as a cohort of overachievers we thrive on academic validation. But it’s crucial to take a step back and prioritise how much we value ourselves over the external and internal academic pressures we commonly face. 

I’m sure I can speak for most people when I say that we all feel immense stress thinking about upcoming tests, exams and unaddressed readings. But it’s worth considering whether this burden is self-imposed or shaped by competitive pressures within our environment. We already place significant stress on ourselves worrying about our own grades, if we’ve prepared enough for our tutorials, job applications or if we have enough connections on LinkedIn. But I would argue that the constant comparison is a major culprit in losing yourself while studying. Of course, this experience is highly individual, but I find that more often than not we get stuck in this cycle.

We repeatedly hear the advice to avoid comparing ourselves and to solely focus on our own journey. Although it’s frustrating, especially when our employers pit us against each other; excessive stress and pressure will never improve our mental health or grades. We must stop pushing our mental wellbeing to the side for the sake of a due date; it is important to remember that it is not the be all end all.

I know I myself have fallen victim to this negative cycle. Don’t get me wrong, I understand it is unrealistic to expect to go through these four or five years care-free - hard work and stress are a part of the process. However, it is essential not to lose yourself in the midst of it. 

Speaking from personal experience, this past year I have let this stress consume me. For the first time in my life, I have let my academic life impact my overall well-being. Whenever someone would ask me ‘how’s uni going’ I tended to respond with ‘it’s hard, but it’s supposed to be’, ignoring my state of extreme stress. I began to lose confidence in my abilities, my intelligence and myself as a whole. One of my attributes had transformed into one of my weaknesses. This constant stress proceeded to affect the non-uni aspects of my life, leaving me no room for a break. So I had to force one. 

I made a conscious effort to prioritise my mental health. One of these steps required reducing my course load by dropping a unit. There is nothing wrong with allowing yourself time to adjust to new stressful environments or providing yourself with breaks when necessary. If this means requesting extensions or reducing your course load, take these steps to advance your future well-being. I also made the conscious effort to stop relying solely on friends and family for encouragement and instead prioritise supporting myself. Therefore, I was instilling confidence in myself instead of needing this reassurance from external sources; reducing the conditional nature of my self-belief. I have found that putting these measures in place has improved my grades, my overall well-being and helped me create a more optimistic mindset towards uni.

Ultimately, it’s about managing your expectations and not expecting too much from yourself, no doubt when wanting to achieve great things you need to aim high, but we need to set reasonable standards for ourselves, and treat ourselves kindly in order to achieve these great things. 

Written by Juliette Sklavos