New Attorneys and Post-Graduate Depression!
Here’s 3 tips that can actually help!
The truth is that post-graduate depression or the post-graduate blues is relatively normal. A research done by the City Mental Health Alliance found that 49% of students felt as though their mental wellbeing declined after they left University (Unite Students, 2022). Luckily, in addition to seeking out professional help, there are some simple steps that you can take to help combat this feeling.
Accept that you’re a newbie!
Although you feel like you should have it all together, or know more than you currently do, or be further ahead than you currently are, you need to focus on accepting that you’re a newbie! It’s not possible to know it all, and right now, you need time to grow and garner experience. There’s no fast track, and there’s no short-cut. For this reason alone, you should give yourself grace, and take the time you need to learn and to grow.
Talk with Senior Attorneys
Talking with Senior Attorneys will help you realize that they too were where you are when they started their careers! They did not become Seniors or experts overnight. Therefore, you shouldn’t expect to amass the knowledge, skill and expertise that they possess overnight either.
Do something you’re good at
Sometimes our brain just needs a reminder that there are things that we are good at. Although there might be humungous tasks that we have no idea how to conquer, there may be others that we can easily do. Or, there may be smaller parts of bigger tasks that we can comfortably tackle, like researching, planning or brainstorming. Do those!
Accomplishing easier or smaller tasks can cause our brain to release the ‘feel good’ hormone, dopamine. This in turn, can cause us to want to continue going simply because it feels good to do so (Ralph Ryback M.D., 2016).
Ultimately, just remember that what we feel in this moment is normal and largely credited to our brain’s resistance to all the changes around us (Gustavo Razzetti, 2018). Overtime, things will likely get better as we learn and grow more comfortable in our new life and career!
One of the easier things I chose to do straight out of Law School was write a book called, ‘Grieving while Christian’. In it, I detailed how I was able to reconcile the death of my dad with my belief in a good God. If you’re interested in reading it, get it right here: https://www.amazon.com/Grieving-while-Christian-Frances-Carryl/dp/B0BW2SL76X/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_1?pd_rd_w=zzDB8&content-id=amzn1.sym.225b4624-972d-4629-9040-f1bf9923dd95%3Aamzn1.symc.40e6a10e-cbc4-4fa5-81e3-4435ff64d03b&pf_rd_p=225b4624-972d-4629-9040-f1bf9923dd95&pf_rd_r=RB8X1WX4MDCV1FF05B6W&pd_rd_wg=KwN2T&pd_rd_r=3e93d9d0-ee28-49ad-905b-99963429fc42&pd_rd_i=B0BW2SL76X
