How I Made My Last Year Of Law School My Best Year
The old adage is true: 1L year they scare you to death, 2L year they work you to death, 3L year they bore you to death. But my 3L year turned out to be my best year…
My 3L year comes to an end in five weeks and…I’m speechless. I remember my first year of law school a little too vividly—crying over my first grade in Elements, getting ghosted by almost all the jobs I applied to, and wondering what the future held for me and my friends—and I can’t believe three years is about to end in a matter of weeks.
One of my best friends, Tyanna, bought me a book for Christmas that’s been guiding me through my last year: Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey. In her book, Hersey emphasizes the importance of rest in a capitalistic society built on white supremacist principles—a mouthful, I know. But Hersey beautiful dips into the anthology of her ancestry to dredge up memories of how the women in her life made time for rest and how we crumble under the pressure of grind culture and a lack of mental peace. My first year of law school was an invitation for my mind to play devil’s advocate and fuel a negative feedback loop that consumed me. I was always second guessing whether I had “earned” my free time and whether it was a bad decision for me to watch reality tv at the end of my day instead of forcing my mind to take in more Civil Procedure readings. My mind was working an over time shift when my body was crying out for silence and I couldn’t turn that voice off until I got my first semester grades back. After putting in 12 hours straight with my friend Zoe studying for Civil Procedure, I got a B in the class and was stunned. I couldn’t mathematically compute how all the hours I put in not only during finals week, but throughout the semester, could equal a B. That B taught me that the voice in my head was meant to exhaust me to no avail. I was dedicated to doing the work I had to do to make good grades, but that didn’t need to come at the expense of my peace.
My second year burnt me out, specifically 2L spring. I was on an international arbitration team that was competing in Vienna, Austria and working at an externship near Rockefeller Center twice a week in-person and once all day on Fridays. I was also the Vice President of the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and a mentor, so my time was pretty booked, not to mention I had classes ranging from Professional Responsibility to Evidence. My time was stacked and I thought I could handle it until I ended up bursting out in tears in front of my Dean of Students. As I sat there trying to wipe away my tears, she looked at me with sympathy and said the most life changing words: “You can just drop a class, you know?” The idea of dropping something off my schedule never even crossed my mind. I don’t know if it was the product of being a child of immigrants or being an over-achiever, but I went into the school year knowing that hard work was inevitable, so there was nothing left to do but grin and bear it. But taking somethings off my plate was the calm to my overactive mind. (I never dropped a class, so you can say old habits die hard).
My 3L year had to be about rest. I wrote out the classes I had to take to graduate and prayed that I would be able to 3LOL as much as possible. I needed to take care of myself and somehow savor my last year because, frankly, I deserved it. I took only the classes I needed and one that I genuinely wanted to take to make my course load lighter. I didn’t sign up to be on a million E-Boards and I don’t force myself to go to events I’m not interested in. I’m learning to prioritize my gym routine and my protein intake (because the girls who get it, get it) and enjoying my walks. This year, I have more free time to get my work done, rest, and work on my blog. I have more time to spend with my loved ones without feeling regret.
3LOL means taking care of myself and spending time with my tribe because long after I graduate, pass the bar, and start practicing, the people I met along the way will still be a part of my growth (God willing). If you’re in law school, how has your experience impacted you?