It's that time of the year again (Month of June) when everyone (or, almost everyone) asks (or gets asked) the question - - "What are you doing this Summer for your vacation?"
It may not be surprising to you, but it is to me, how many lawyers do NOT take a Summer vacation - - or, any vacation(s), for that matter. It's not that they can't afford a vacation, or that they have so many vacation selections in mind that they don't know which one(s) to select, or that they don't think about taking a vacation. It's none of these. It's just that all they do is work - work - work. Their whole life is about work - - that is all they do.
Some lawyers apparently believe that their clients need them 24/7 twelve months a year - wrong. Others feel that they have so much work to do that their work will never get done if they leave for any period of time - wrong. Others still have never taken a vacation for any meaningful period of time and don't realize the benefits they are missing.
A recent article appearing in the Los Angeles Times newspaper on May 30, 2011, by Karen Ravn, is right on. She says that taking a vacation is just the ticket for stress-reduction. That a vacation can have big payoffs.
A vacation (almost of any sort) can lower one's blood pressure, boost your immune system, and help you live longer. It may even make you smarter - - not to mention, a vacation of means of having FUN (something some lawyers seldom experience).
According to Jens Pruessner, Associate Professor in the departments of psychology, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University in Montreal, "a vacation is an investment in your health."
A vacation is an opportunity to get away from many of the stresses you can't get away from in your everyday life (your work, your commute, the chaos in your home, etc).
But, one caveat: Your vacation must be FUN. No kidding !!!! But scientific studies show this to be a fact. If you take or have a "stressful vacation," and we all know there are those kinds of vacations, you are just adding one form of stress onto another.
JEROME M. BAME, Esq., Coach-Mentor-Confidant to Lawyers, 10061 Talbert Avenue, Suite 200, Fountain Valley, CA 92708; Telephone (714) 962-4477; Email jmb@PracticingLawSucks.com
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