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How to Forget You're A Lawyer When You Travel

Being a lawyer is, by no means, an easy career. It's demanding and stressful and can be downright nasty at times, which is why most attorneys revel in their vacations.

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vacation at the beachBeing a lawyer is, by no means, an easy career. It’s demanding and stressful and can be downright nasty at times, which is why most attorneys revel in their vacations. Here are some tips on how to detach (in a healthy way) from work when you’re on vacation:

1) Choose a Remote Spot. Believe it or not, there are still places in the world where you may not get constant cell service. I just spent a few weeks traveling the East Coast of Australia, and, for about 10 of those 21 days, I had absolutely no wifi and no cell service, which made for a very peaceful time where I could engage with the people around me and take in the scenery. For your next vacation, try to find a place where you can be unreachable for at least a few days of it. And even if you aren’t in a remote spot, tell people that you’re working with that you’ll only be checking email once a day, once a week, or not at all, and stick to that schedule. (Stating the obvious: make sure you have coverage on your cases/deals first.).

2) Go Outside Your Comfort Zone. A lot of us have the tendency to do the same things on vacation that we would do in our free time at home, like going out to nice meals or having drinks with friends. Rather than sticking to the same old stuff, do things on your trip that make you feel alive. For some people, that’s skydiving or bungee jumping; for others, it’s sea kayaking or snorkeling. (For me? I have now hiked two active volcanoes and made s’mores on flowing lava–unforgettable). Whatever you do, make sure you do it mindfully: don’t go hiking in the rainforest just to say you did it; hike the rainforest, take in the scenery, and really stay in the moment. You’ll forget you’re a lawyer, even if it’s only for half a day.

3) Get Moving. Nothing can make you forget that you sit at a desk for 12-18 hours per day on a normal basis as well as moving can. Get your body moving, get your heart racing, and enjoy the physical freedom that your body has when you’re not chained to the desk. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even take your new exercise habit home with you!

4) Consider Using an Alter Ego. When you go on vacation, maybe you really enjoy networking, rubbing elbows, and attracting new clients. If so, go for it. If you’re like me and the last thing you want to do on vacation is talk about work, make up an alternate career for yourself (maybe the career you secretly fantasize about pursuing when you hand in your notice and run for freedom). Give yourself a title, a background, colleagues, you name it. It’s fun to role play, and you also don’t have to talk about work. Win-win!

5) Make Relaxation a Priority. For most lawyers, your normal state of life is “busy.” Busy working, busy taking care of others, busy with social plans, busy talking about how busy you are. Busy, busy, busy. If you take that mentality with you on vacation, you might find yourself overbooked and exhausted from too many activities. Make your vacation one that gives you time to unwind each day: get a massage, take a relaxing yoga class, lie on the beach, take a swim–no emails, no responsibility, nothing to do but melt into a puddle of lazy.

Soak it in. You worked for it. Now enjoy it. Forget about the nonsense at work and relax.

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Megan Grandinetti is a New York city-based attorney, health coach, and yoga teacher. Megan’s work as a health coach focuses on improving the health and wellness of lawyers. Find out more about Megan (a.k.a. “Health Coach Meg”) by visiting www.thelawyershealthcoach.com or her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/healthcoachmegnyc.

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