The Summer Before Law School

My summer associate position only has two weeks left! It's crazy to think how fast the summer went by. In a little over a month, I'll be back on campus for my last year of school.  We are moving out of our apartment close to campus next week, and I've been reflecting on the past 2 years that I've spent in Los Angeles so far as I slowly pack up my life once again.

Two years ago, I was about three weeks out of moving to Los Angeles and starting school. I was just starting to think about packing. I'm proud of where I am now and could never have imagined where my life would be today as I was getting ready to say goodbye to the only city I ever called home. That summer was intense, amazing, busy, and wonderful.

I spent lots of time with friends.

I went to the Chihuly Museum in Seattle, one of my bucket list items.

I coached a swim team and they made it to finals at KCAC.

I went to outdoor movies at a brewery

I celebrated the 4th

I spent time with my favorite person ever, my dog Cooper.

I drank beers by lakes.

I went to baseball games.

I relaxed and relaxed and relaxed.

I think that sometimes there is a notion that you must start preparing for law school in the summer so that you can be ahead of the curve by the time you arrive in September. I think that mindset is entirely wrong, and potentially dangerous. You need that summer to rest, have fun, be spontaneous, and totally and completely nourish your mind and body before school starts because once it does, you are going to have to dive head first into freezing cold water and try to swim upstream. Law school is stressful. Between the first day I started and today, my body started giving me stress signs that I never thought existed. I have developed tension headaches (usually around finals time), I started getting migraines (so far I've had 3), I experienced one true panic attack, my skin developed a rash, and I sometimes get heartburn. I realize I just made myself sound like a 70 year old man. While this isn't how I feel everyday, I never felt any of these symptoms before law school! I consider myself a generally healthy person. I drink lots of water, I try to eat healthy, I work out, I get 7 hours of sleep a night Yet, my body was still trying to tell me something was wrong. I recently started to take up Yoga for the very reason that I know I need to do more to help relieve the stress and anxiety in my body. Sometimes the only true medication for stress is to take a complete vacation from all that is stressful. I am excited to do that in August when I will be off work but before school starts.

However, if there is one thing I can tell any person who is preparing to start school in the fall, it would be don't think about it yet. Enjoy your time with family. Go out with your friends. Hang out at the beach. Read for fun. Binge watch a Netflix show. Start running. Take up Yoga. Go on a road trip. Hike. Spend time outdoors. Finally check off those bucket list items you've been longing to do. Decorate your apartment. But please, please, please do not spend the remainder of your summer worrying about class rankings, reading internet blogs of how to be at the top of the 1L curve, or god forbid thinking about OCI. You will have plenty of time to do all of that come the time school starts. Orientation will prepare you for class. And you'll be just fine.