Law School Fears

I recently sat on a student panel for students interested in attending law school here at St. Thomas, and was asked if I had been nervous about embarking on my law school adventure. The answer is a resounding yes! I am sure that many of you out there in blogging land feel some sort of anxiety about law school... where you are going to go, who you are going to meet, your professors, studying..... I want to assure you that this is a completely normal way to feel. My Mom still laughs about the fact that I sat at my kitchen table crying before my first day of class (I'm a theatre chick, remember, I tend to be a little overdramatic). It didn't end there, though. My entire first semester I was convinced that everyone here was smarter than me, that they all knew what was going on, and because it would take me three hours to read one case, I was convinced that I was going to fail.
Fast forward to the present.... I didn't fail. I'm not the only person here who didn't understand things.... and my nerves pushed me to study harder and excel. I'm of the notion that if you really care about doing something well, you will be nervous about doing it. The people who don't care are the ones whose nerves never bother them. Making the decision to go to law school is a difficult one for some people. For some it is the natural progression of things, their life's calling... but for others, like me, who started out on a different path, deciding to go to law school is a complete upheaval of our lives. For all of us, it is the start of something new, which is scary for anyone. Change is scary.
Do I still get nervous? Sure... I freak out during finals... worry about finding a job... I have too much to do and not enough time to do it in... I spend many a sleepless night worrying about what I need to get done....but I'm a law student, and that is just the job description. I signed up for this, and quite frankly, as masochistic as it may sound, I love it. I hope you love it, too! If you have any questions, just let me know!
Catch you next time!
Cheers,
Dara