I've never been a lawyer that suffered from much trial anxiety.
I really enjoy being in trial, actually. I love voir dire. I like the feeling of getting stuff done with every witness I get on and off the stand -- every exhibit that makes it out of my trial notebook and into evidence. I live to do closing arguments.
Trial isn't a traumatic experience for me.
Except if something wakes me up in the middle of the night.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking about not being able to go to sleep, or even waking up in the middle of the night due to trial stress.
I'm just talking about something waking me up in the middle of the night -- the dog, the cell phone, the kiddo. Anything.
Because, if I wake up, there's something about my brain that says "Oh! You're up! Time to start thinking about trial!" And once that happens, there's no going back to sleep.
It's amazing how many small problems seem magnified in the middle of the night:
"Did I tell that Officer to be here at 9 or 9:30?"
"Have I scheduled enough witnesses for tomorrow to take up the whole day?"
"When was the last time I listened to that witness statement?"
This morning (when I woke up at 3:30), I was glad that I had brought a lot of my trial file home with me, because I was able to actually get some productive work done for trial.
If I hadn't, I'm sure I would still be staring at my ceiling in the dark.
On the positive side, it gave me the opportunity to eat breakfast for a change. Pop Tarts and Diet Coke.
It's the breakfast of Champions.
4 comments:
Oh my. Pop tarts and diet coke sounds like a very interesting breakfast.
I don't know if it's getting older but I just seem to wake up more in the middle of the night and unable to sleep.
JAGJO writes:
Now you know why some of my post are in the middle of the night and laced with bad grammer! Welcome to my world! lol Do you ever find that some of those early-early morning interuptions produce an amazing clarity for the day in question?
You know, the variety of Pop Tart(s) can reveal a loooot about a person....(lol) flavor? Iced or plain? If iced with or without sprinkles? Toasted are straight from wrapper? And, does the choice depend upon trial days vs non trial days? This may very well be a hidden secret to your success. Might have to add that to your former list! ;-)
Pop Tarters of the world Unite!!
Glad I'm not alone...
Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts, toasted. With a Coke. A real one. If I'm eating the Pop-Tart, why bother with the Diet Coke.
And a handful of M&M's or Skittles to keep the mind moving when I'm really working hard.
Hmmm.... I think you're going to give Michael Phelps a run for his money in the breakfast endorsement racket.
BTW- Glad(?) to see I'm not the only one with the 3:30am wakeup calls.
Post a Comment