The “traditional” year end holiday season is typically a stressful time for many of us, and 2020 is tougher than ever.
The end of the year has been a stressful time of year holiday season for many of us, and this year almost all of us are grieving in some way. Many of us first encountered grief related to Covid-19 some time ago, and many of us faced personal loss of family or friends, jobs or income. Grief can compound during times typically for celebration. Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah were observed as cases began to spike again, and we’ve watched numbers continue to climb as Diwali passed just over a week ago with Thanksgiving right around the corner, followed shortly by Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and the New Year. We’ve compiled a roundup of our previous posts along with a few updates to help you stay focused on your well-being and hopefully find some joy.
How to Manage Expectations for Holiday Success as a Lawyer. Of course, we have a whole new set of expectations this year, including that next year will be better. Still, after the events of 2020 illuminating divisions within our own families about moral issues, we might expect different holiday celebrations for the future — more confrontational and difficult, and more powerful as well.
Navigating Difficult Conversations: Tips for the Legal Profession, for use both in professional and personal conversations, whether over Zoom, by phone, in messages, even on social media… and eventually in person.
How Grief Can Help Joy: Lessons from Juneteenth & Pride Month for the Legal Profession. Written in the context of different celebrations, but the lessons in grief apply to any.
Tips for Lawyers & Law Students to Stay Sober During the Holidays. For those those who are sober or sober curious, the risk of being offered a drink at a gathering might be lower or removed entirely this year, but the holidays are still likely to create new challenges to sobriety during the pandemic.
Lonely Lawyers: Feelings of Isolation & Identifying Support. While being alone isn’t the same as being lonely, pandemic conditions have undoubtedly augmented feelings of isolation for many of us. Helping others is an effective way to improve your own mood — find tips for supporting yourself and others through pandemic holiday isolation in this article.
Balanced Gratitude: Practice Reviewing Consolations & Desolations. Native American History Month is also observed in November, and we recognize the reality of the Thanksgiving tradition described by Corinne Rice in ‘As a Native American, Here’s What I Want My Fellow Americans to Know about Thanksgiving’.
New Year’s Resolutions: Starting Small is Key. This New Year might be the easiest sell to convince yourself to start small to see results with your goals.
Related Resource:
Well-Being Tips for Law Students & Lawyers to Endure Winter 20-21
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