Student Blogs: 1st Year

Law school can be overwhelming. Actually, overwhelming doesn’t really encapsulate it all. Perhaps a better word is “lklddhalksdfobvvsnlk,” which is a keyboard smash representation for “I am expletive-ing frustrated and I kind of want sit in the fetal position and cry.” To use an analogy, undergraduate is like summer camp and law school is like juvie. There were a lot of times last year when I just wanted to quit. There were times when the simple stress free life of a fast-food employee was appealing; after all, money isn’t everything.

There were some pretty low points to my first year. Perhaps the one that sticks out most in my mind occurred in the fall. It was a Friday night, and I was in the frozen foods section of a grocery store. As I stood there, trying to decide which frozen entree I would sentence to a steamy death in my microwave, I realized that the quality of my evening was solely dependent upon the selection I made. That was the first time I had ever been psychologically dependent on food, and the frozen food section had never felt so cold and empty (well, maybe it had felt that cold but definitely never so empty). In case you were wondering, I think I ended up getting some kind alfredo pasta thing, and my night ended up being so-so.

One of my problems is that when I get stressed, I get reclusive. Living in a single dorm made being reclusive very easy. So, stress plus being alone can lead to some pretty low moments. To combat this, I forced myself to take trips to see friends. A change of scene and being around friends that have no interest in talking about the law beyond the obligatory “hey, how’s school going,” can be a godsend. I also got a hobby. I decided to build a road bicycle. The beauty of building a road bike was that I had absolutely no idea how to do it. So, for four months I researched, accumulated parts, and built it. In the spring, I took it out for my first ride and subsequently my first and second crashes. Having a hobby allowed me to be productive and keep my mind off of school. It was also nice to see real tangible progress, in that each part I got produced a visible result; something that law school cannot always provide. This year I plan on riding the bicycle as my hobby, or maybe clog dancing.

Having a good friend to talk things out with is also amazing. With law school being competitive, it can sometimes be hard to spill your guts to your “adversary.” So if you find that person who knows what you’re dealing with and won’t judge, then keep a hold of them because sometimes there is nothing better than just knowing that someone else is freaking out too.

I guess the one thing to remember is that it gets better. So, just stick it out and wait for the wisdom of hindsight to show you how foolish you were being.

Feel free to ask questions by emailing aaronsblog@mail.widener.edu or clicking the discuss link.