Let’s face it.¹ Regardless of practice area, if you are a lawyer, you likely have a high stress job. Some of this is self-created, some by our clients, some by opposing counsel, and some of it... Just kidding. You get, and live, the point. But you may not do a good job of identifying how that stress is affecting you or those around you, and you may not make healthy decisions to handle it (attorneys are notorious for making such non-healthy decisions; this is one of the main reasons the Nebraska Lawyers Assistance Program exists).

Although it doesn’t necessarily have to happen, career burnout for attorneys often does, and when it occurs, it comes at different times for different people. Spending extra hours at work because you don’t have anything better to do is a recipe for disaster and may lead to the dreaded burnout.

To combat this, all of us at some point have thought about other fun and enjoyable things we would like to do, but quite often, these non-law career related adventures get pushed down the priority list because of work. The purpose of this article is to point out some benefits of finding/revisiting those fun and enjoyable activities, and perhaps get you to add at least one to your to-do list this year.²

As in arguing a successful motion hearing or trial, preparing for success outside the courtroom is crucial to having a healthy work-life balance, and one way to do this is to have a hobby (or six). For the purposes of this article, I am defining “hobby” as an activity that involves actually doing something that has at least the tiniest of movements. Therefore, things like binging the latest season of “Fargo” on Hulu —although it is a fantastic dark comedy TV series — are not considered a hobby. In other words, taking some time to work on being the best couch potato you can be is not contained in the scope of this article.

Things I have done in the past few years to overcome my inner couch potato, with some success and some failure (being good at the hobby is not important), included attempts at podcasting, screenwriting, stand-up, improv and sketch comedy, coding, photography, bicycling, and crafting (this lasted all of 18 minutes, but I have a few super sweet mini picture frames made out of tiny Post-Its).

The pandemic certainly added creative or other endeavors to my list of fun stuff Unfortunately, as soon as I could leave the house once again and was forced to put on pants and shower on a regular basis (boo to that!), these fun activities got put on a lengthy hold, well, because of work. And as quickly as I started these new hobbies, once the world opened back up, they got discarded like an on-point unpublished opinion I found.³ But recently, I decided to revisit these hobbies, and I encourage you to dust yours off or, if you don’t have any to dust off, find one.

If you don’t have an old hobby to pick up, there are countless activities to consider that are easy and inexpensive to start. Pickleball, or what I like to call small tennis or big ping pong, is the latest boom in physical activity that just about everyone is doing. Join the Y (Fremont has an enormous one) or start smaller and just take a daily walk. Do yoga. Meditate. Write an article just for fun,⁴ not to find legal precedent. Learn an instrument (my neighbors hate the drum set I bought, and although I’m a little too old to coordinate both hands and my foot in rhythm, banging those things is great stress relief). Volunteer at a non-profit that shares your values. Learn a new language; then, make needing to practice it an excuse to travel to that place (and if you can’t justify the expense, attend a destination CLE while there — hello, tax write-off!). None of these ideas tickle your fancy? In researching this article, I came across a podcast hosted by Steven Lefkoff that discusses with attorneys the hobbies they have chosen to undertake, aptly called “Lawyers with Lives,” that may inspire you.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless — just find something you enjoy. No need to set out with the intention to master it. Attorneys often have that problem — needing to be the best, at least in our own minds, at everything we do. But that is not the goal here; fun and getting your mind off work are the main goals. If it is something that involves non-adversarial social interaction, even better. This may sound absurd, but maybe consider an activity that is not related whatsoever with the practice of law. This creates a wall of separation between work and home, which can be a refreshing break for your mind.

There are countless benefits to having a hobby, and, so far, this article has been solely from my perspective. I could have written one of those research-type articles, but that would not be fun. However, since you are attorneys, you likely want some additional sources to validate my position. The good news here is that volumes of studies support what I am saying, and I’ll just refer to a few. One study associated doing leisure activities with lower blood pressure and decreased body mass index. This research concluded that doing enjoyable leisure activities increase psychosocial and physical measures that are relevant to health and well-being.⁵

Another study concluded that creative, non-work activities both directly and indirectly promoted positive job performance and helped employees recover from work.⁶ That bears repeating as it is a phrase I had never heard before: recover from work. When we think of recovery, getting better from the negative effects of our job is not something that typically comes to mind, but it certainly does exist. Therefore, here’s a not-so-slight elbow nudge to all those bosses out there to take some time this year to evaluate what you can do as far as being supportive to your employees in this area.⁷

Much of this article may seem tongue-in-cheek, but it actually is not. I’ve found humor is a great way to remember important information and to connect with people, and it is something that is crucial for me to keep my life in balance.⁸ I hope you have found this article useful and that you find something healthy and enjoyable to do after 5:00 p.m. Having trouble coming up with an activity and like board/word games? Get in touch with me, and I’ll meet you at a coffee shop and beat you at Scrabble.

Michael Brewer is an associate attorney at Koenig|Dunne, PC, LLO, where he practices divorce and family law. He received his B.A. from Hastings College, his JD. from Creighton University and is a member of the Nebraska Lawyers Assistance Program Volunteer Committee. In an attempt to maintain balance in his life through hobbies outside practicing law, Michael is an award-winning screenplay writer, an actor who has appeared in a handful of regional commercials and short films, and he is currently in preproduction for filming two of his own comedy screenplays. This commentary was republished from The Nebraska Lawyer, the official publication of the Nebraska State Bar Association. Find more at nebar.com.

Endnotes

1. There is no reason for this endnote. It is solely here to see who, if anyone, with the eyesight of an eagle, actually reads the things in the tiny text down here.
2. The author is aware that spending quality time with your spouse or children is also something that is worthy of doing in your off-work hours. However, since the author has neither, and therefore no personal experience in either, he has chosen to focus on his personal experience.
3. On this topic, if someone could give me a rational explanation for the reason unpublished opinions exist, if they basically cannot be used, I could have one less hobby as this would eliminate a current stressor in my life.
4. Shameless self-promotion intended.
5. Sally Pressman et al., Association of Enjoyable Leisure Activities with Psychosocial and Physical We/I-Being. 71(7) Psychosomatic Medicine. 725 (2009).
6. Kevin Eschleman, et al. Benefitting from creative activity: The positive relationships between creative activity, recovery experiences, and performance-related outcomes. 87(3) Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology. 579 (2014).
7. I want to be extremely clear, and even provide kudos, to my bosses, as they need no elbow nudge from me. They truly understand the importance of a work-life balance, and they do all they can to support and encourage such.
8. Speaking of said bosses, I hope they have noticed my continued effort at reducing the amount of meeting interrupting attempts at humor over the past few years.