Breaks to tune-in

About three and a half years ago, I worked on my first death penalty writ, and I literally worked for two months straight. 16-18 hours a day. Not a single day off. (Sounds like there must be some employment law violations there, but unfortunately, I was working on my own, so I couldn't sue myself.) After the writ was filed, I was so exhausted and ... lost. For two months, I lived in my client's world, and forgot my own. It took awhile to find my bearings again since I put my personal life on hold for those two months. I put all emotions on hold.

Anyhow, the reason I bring all that up is that right now, I've been swamped with work and am struggling with this brief that I mentioned before. I've been in front of the computer all day, and even turned down an opportunity to eat a home-cooked dinner at my best friend's house. The only break I've allowed myself was to run and clear my head. And, well, I promised myself that I'd also take a break to watch Cold Case. But when I turned on the television at 9pm, I was very disappointed to find that Cold Case wasn't on tonight. However, the SAG awards was on. And I should say that Brad Pitt is lookin' mighty fine. And ummm, Cold Case's absence has been worth it. :-)

However, off to the real purpose for this post (which does not include exploiting Mr. Pitt). I want to, again, remind myself that it's okay to take a break, and actually, I created this blog site for that reason. To allow myself to take mental breaks, coffee breaks, dinner breaks ... I should have taken A up on those pork chops. I don't want to be that same person three and a half years ago. I came out of those two months quite removed, detached, cold and selfish. And although I could proudly say that I completed a 300-page brief in two months, I could never be proud about how I treated some people who just wanted a small amount of my time and attention.

So anyhow, here I am taking my short break, but unfortunately ... I do have to go back and work on this brief. However, I won't disappear from here. I'll allow myself to tune in to my emotions. Hey, it takes practice to perfect "switching gears" ...