It’s 1 a.m. and you’re pacing back and forth in your room, fretting over everything you have to get done in the next 48 hours, worrying whether or not you’ll be able to do it in time. You try to work, but you can’t focus. You try to sleep, but to no avail. And the time you’re losing is only stressing you out even more.
Some stress is great, it sharpens our focus and motivates us. But stress can get out ofhand sometimes. We all know that activities like meditation and exercise are great for stress relief. But I’m going to focus this piece on why we become overly stressed in the first place, and why it’s actually completely unnecessary.
Law students become stressed because we worry that a bad grade, or a bad year in law school, is going to kill our future. Hear me out as I explain to you why this belief is utter gobbledygook.
Now don’t get me wrong, you should strive to do the best you can, so you maximize the opportunities available to you (and so you can feel like a boss). But there is no need to spiral into total devastation if you do not perform at the level you would have liked. The majority of us have limited experience in the “real world” and so far we’ve only ever had grades as a marker through which to determine how well we’re doing in our careers. Naturally, we think grades are the be-all-and-end-all.
The truth is that to get your foot in the door, you simply need to demonstrate you have the work ethic and skills required. Your grades are a great way of demonstrating this. But there are many other ways: volunteering at a legal clinic, participating in student clubs, working as an RA, or publishing in a legal journal are just a few ideas. Other factors count more than you may realize, such as your ability to engage with people. And believe it or not, many firms opt for people who have a demonstrated interest in their particular area of law, regardless of grades. Browse through the CDO website some time and start planning your career, instead of worrying about it. You’ll feel motivated and calm once you have a plan of attack.
Bear in mind that if you’re unhappy with your performance in exams, you have next semester to improve. Over the break, you’ll have a chance to step back and ask yourself what you could’ve done better, and then implement some changes. Firms love students who do this, because it shows the ability to identify your weaknesses and fix them.
The real question is, what is the true determinant of whether or not you will succeed in this law game? If you ask me, it’s your ability to persevere, while learning and growing from your mistakes. My sister told me once, “Sanaa, it’s not a matter of if you’ll succeed, it’s a matter of when. You will only fail if you give up.”
Any disappointments you experience along the way will serve their function and are not necessarily bad for you. Often, they come with important lessons. Learning to stay humble and focused on my goals has helped me a lot more in life than any A on my transcript ever has.
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou
So please don’t worry yourself sick over your grades. Strive to do the best you can in December. If exams don’t go the way you want, keep things in perspective. Talk to the people around you. Trust that if you persevere, you will get over whatever roadblocks are in the way. And whenever you fall, you will only stand up better and stronger than before.
