Being Evergreen: Avoiding Burnout

Burnout. We’ve all heard about it, and many of us have experienced it. Perhaps you’ve felt that bone-deep, soul-wrenching weariness—the dread you feel when you know you need a change and cannot face your current practice anymore. Perhaps it’s exhibited as a short fuse—a lack of inner reserves in dealing with difficult cases, difficult people, or even situations or people in our personal lives. Perhaps you think you are ready to quit the practice of law. Burnout builds up over time—but there is no bright-line rule for how long that timeline is, or how quickly it may develop. Pinpointing the specific causes of burnout can be like identifying the stick that broke the proverbial camel’s back—it may be one thing, or a combination of factors, and it may be different for everyone.