Ohhhhhhhh Back To School

Ohhhhhhhhh

Back to school

Back to school

To prove to dad that I'm not a fool,

I've got my lunch packed up,

My boots tied tight

I hope I don't get in a fight,

Ohhhhh

Back to school

Back to school

Back to school...

-The immortal wisdom of Adam Sandler's "Billy Madison"

Hopefully you don't judge ASP's taste in movies, however this song is particularly apt for the second semester "Back to School" time.  You've likely done more relaxing and sleeping in than you ever have during a vacation for sheer need to catch up on the rest you lost during first semester.  The hope was that you'd be reinvigorated and ready to take on second semester.  The reality, honestly, is you're probably not even close to reinvigorated.  You're anxious because not all of your grades are in, you're tired because you procrastinated on doing your winter reading and had to stay up late to catch up, and you're frustrated because no one (except your classmates) seems to understand the stress you're under.  THIS IS PERFECTLY NORMAL!  So how do you deal with this?  Just like we discussed in Workshop #3 last semester, now is the time to assess your study plan from last semester and make a new schedule for yourself:

• Go buy a 2012 calendar to create your study schedule
• Add your classes
• Add in "me" time
• when you work-out, sleep-in, hang out with friends, etc.
• When you get your syllabi add-in when major assignments are due, and continue adding reading assignments
• Add goals for when you want to start outlining

Preparing a schedule for yourself sounds like a tedious task, especially when you consider the above list of things to add to it.  However, keep perspective: YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THIS ONCE!  You have an entire semester under your belt already so this is old hat.  Now is the time to realize you've made it this far so you know you can do it! Were you a little tired sometimes?--Of course.  Were you stressed out a lot?--Yeah.  But at the end of the semester you sat for your exams and you came out of them alive and well in the end.  So now is the time to think about what you can do to make things a little more manageable, make life a little more enjoyable during second semester: did you take the semester off from working out and during break realize you really missed it? Did you not allow yourself to EVER sleep in and crash toward the end of the semester?  Did you miss occasionally hanging out with family or friends?  If so, it's time to include that in your "me" time because you're in law school for YOU.  That means you should understand that yes, law school is difficult, but not so difficult that all happiness and enjoyment in life should be sacrificed.

Make this semester an enjoyable one for you outside of school and you might enjoy law school that much more too.