KELLY NEIGHBOUR UNDERGRADUATE PSYCHOLOGY/LAW

Fortunately for current and upcoming graduates of law, self-care has become quite the catch-phrase in the legal arena. In just about every law journal you will find at least one section talking about the critical need for self-care. Self-care is not just about pampering yourself occasionally or taking a well-deserved break when the opportunity arises (although these are great ideas too!)

It is also about simply being kind to yourself.

Recognise that the journey you have been on has not always been easy and when you graduate and hit the ground running in your new legal profession, it will not be easy most of the time! So, start practicing now. Remember that you have achieved so much to be where you are today and give yourself credit for that. Even if you didn’t achieve as many HDs as you would have liked, or you didn’t land that dream job right off the bat, it is a journey, and you are nailing it! One of the best pieces of advice I can offer is this: every time you find yourself stressing out over an essay or exam preparations, remember that you did this every single other time you had an essay due or an upcoming exam and you did it! You can do your very best without making yourself sick over it.

The most practical advice I can give to balancing your workload is this: Start now! I know procrastination was one of my biggest hurdles and I could have saved myself from many ‘all nighters’ if I had only started sooner! The more you can do today, the easier tomorrow will be. Work out if study groups work for you. If you think they may be

ARYANA KHAJA JD STUDENT

Balancing university commitments can be quite stressful, particularly for a JD student. With JD & Postgrad students, most of us have careers that are in the background of our university life. Some of us also have families to care for. With all these responsibilities, it can become incredibly stressful to stay on top of everything! A way to combat this is to plan ahead. The best way for me to balance my studies with my other commitments is to plan! I love making to-do lists at the start of each week to spread out all my responsibilities

'ANONYMOUS'

Although studying law is generally stressful, the exam period at the end of semester can make you reach extreme levels of stress. I have two strategies to mitigate stress throughout and at the end of the semester.

Firstly, I engage in hard-core strenuous exercise. During COVID lockdown, that would mean running 7km or skipping for an hour; but now it means going to the gym and doing jiu-jitsu classes at night. This exercise not only provides escapism, but a euphoric rush of endorphins and brain chemicals that allows me to feel more focused, happy, and surprisingly energised. Exercise declutters my mind, allows me to redirect my stress in a healthy way, and contributes to all aspects of my life.

useful, try them, but if they are not working for you, don’t hesitate to drop out of the group and find a more useful way of using your study time. I have been in study groups that have saved me from failing a unit and I have been in other study groups where you quickly work out you are the only one doing the reading, considering the tutorial questions and watching the lectures. Drop it! Always support one another but don’t allow yourself to become the 'worker bee' for others.

Optimise your study time. Work out what works for you. Do you study better early in the morning or in the evening? Is your bedroom or home office the best study area for you or do you achieve more when you find a quiet spot in the library and set up for the day? Once you know when and where the best study environment is for you, you can work out your timetable around it.

Utilise the resources available to you! If there are PAL or PASS sessions available and these work for you – join them! Also, the library has fantastic workshops, and I would strongly recommend you see what is available. In my first 2 years I found the AGLC workshops particularly helpful.

Finally, learn how to say no! Find a healthy balance of work/ study/play and stick to your plan. I know it can be hard to say no sometimes but trust me, you need to know what your priorities are at the time and say no when you need to. Whether it is saying no to a party, or no to helping a friend move house, or no to a weekend away… people will understand and you will feel the benefits when you are celebrating the completion of another year or attending your graduation party!

and tasks evenly so I can stay on top of everything and make sure I do not fall behind. I also find using a calendar incredibly helpful, so you can never plan too much on one day. This is particularly helpful in splitting up personal commitments, extracurricular commitments, and university work evenly across the month.

Secondly, I message my classmates and ask how they’re feeling. Despite being told that this may further contribute to the stress, I find that it provides a sense of solidarity; I realise that I’m not the only one who's falling behind, overwhelmed, and anxious; I realise that if other people can push through, I can too.

There is no doubt that the legal industry is full of high achievers. Yet, in conforming to this standard, everyone wants to present their best selves. However, what often is neglected is the voice within them that tells them what they think about themselves.

This voice, filled with criticism, makes one doubt their own abilities, highlighting their insecurities and guilt that they are not good enough for their achievements. This experience, coined as ‘Impostor Syndrome’ is one that is common amongst people who wish to pursue, or are pursuing a career in law. If you are someone who experiences this, I hope you know that you are already worthy enough. And, it is the aim of this section to provide you comfort and reassurance that there are people that go through this same experience.

Ranging from current students, academics and graduates, all contributions shed light into this issue and their advice on how to steer away from that mentality.

As a student at a law school, I feared that I was not good enough at times. As an Academic at Law School, that feeling has not subsided. I thought this feeling may dissipate as I stepped into a legal career after completing my studies. But the interesting thing about impostor syndrome is that it does not just go away because you have grown a few years older or completed your degree.

Individuals typically strive to complete a Bachelor of Laws because they value high accolades and are willing to work hard in order to accomplish their aspirations. If this sounds like you, then you may encounter impostor syndrome at some point throughout your studies. So my advice is to remind yourself of the following:

Instead of striving for perfectionism, strive for excellence in a healthy manner.

Instead of setting unrealistically high standards for yourself, set achievable and measurable goals.

Instead of only valuing the outcome of your hard work, value the process.

Instead of trying to avoid making mistakes, see mistakes as an opportunity for growth.

How do I put these reminders into practice? I have a diary that contains all of my weekly, monthly and yearly goals so that I can reflect on them, amend them, and tick them off when they have been achieved. For each goal, I answer the following questions:

What date do I want to achieve this goal by?

Why do I want to achieve this goal?

How am I going to accomplish this goal?

How will I measure this goal?

What is my reward for achieving this goal?

These questions prompt you to set standards for yourself that are realistic, and encourage you to actually take a moment to give yourself praise and celebrate your accomplishments. These moments will give you an opportunity to realise how much you have learnt and grown during your studies, which will help you feel validated that you deserve to be here — because you do!

Zara Bending

Ever felt like a fraud? Maybe on the outside you radiate confidence, composure and achievement but on the inside you doubt your ability or worthiness to be where you are? Sometimes you may feel like you’re one or two questions away from having your inadequacy laid out for everyone to see? Maybe you think others overestimate your abilities? The phenomenon now known as ‘impostor syndrome’ first hit the research world in 1978 in psychological studies of highachieving women but subsequent studies have also observed it in men.

The takeaway isn’t that we’re all frauds (the criminologist in me can confirm) but that feelings of self-doubt can happen to anyone, including (and maybe especially) high achievers. I also know a lot of students who deal with impostor syndrome and become so hypercritical of their work that there's a disconnect somewhere between their ability, performance, and perception of capability. Students who may have the potential for Ds and HDs overthink themselves into Ps and Cs, or sometimes can’t bring themselves to submit their work.

Abigail Stevens

ACADEMIC AND LAW GRADUATE

Personally, my feelings of impostor syndrome are often born out of comparing myself to other people. The first time I experienced impostor syndrome was actually in my first Foundations of Law tutorial. It felt as if every other student was so much more articulate and confident than I was. I remember questioning whether I was at the same ‘level’ as my peers. If you find yourself having similar thoughts, remember that you worked hard to get here, and that you deserve to be here. One of my favourite quote to reflect

Tomas Ditton

GRADUATE SOLICITOR AT ABORIGINAL LEGAL SERVICE

Hi, my name is Tomas Ditton and I have impostor syndrome. I am a Juris Doctorgraduate from Macquarie University and work as a Graduate Solicitor in Criminal Law for the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).

According to Merriam-Webster, impostor syndrome is ‘a psychological condition that is characterised by persistent doubt concerning one’s abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one’s ongoing success’ (Impostor syndrome Definition & Meaning — Merriam-Webster).

As a law student and now as a lawyer, I was and am constantly worried I had fluked it. While a student, I was overwhelmed with insecurity over feeling inferior to other people in my cohort, who seemed smarter, more experienced, and more accomplished than me. I studied with people who were prize winning students in their first degree, accomplished athletes, already had extensive experience as a paralegal, or were capable musicians. I had none of those things and felt like I had faked it to make it into law school. I heard people describe law school as ‘easy’ when I found it to be a serious challenge. Whenever I met lawyers at career events, I felt on is: ‘Comparison is the thief of joy.’ If you notice yourself making comparisons between yourself and other students, remember that everyone has entirely different circumstances and aspirations. You have already achieved so much by just getting into law school. When in doubt, reflect upon your achievements to date and allow these to instil the greater self-confidence needed to seize the opportunities you have ahead of you. like a total fake compared to them. Lawyers seemed so smooth and self-assured, while I felt like a stumbled around like a bumbling oaf and was about to be exposed as someone who was not smart enough or good enough to be a lawyer. I constantly felt the impulse to quit because I was not good enough to make it.

I don’t have all the answers. What I do have are some tips that have worked for me and droves of my students and mentees in the last decade. If you find yourself inching towards negative thoughts about yourself, start with the prompt ‘That isn’t true because…’ and find data and evidence to complete the rest of the sentence. Or, reframe with ‘A better or more helpful way to think about it is…’ Be open to constructive thinking (including criticism).

I also see that students who devote time to investing in the foundations of their academic work and getting feedback can wind back feelings of impostor syndrome because they know they’re not ‘winging it’. I highly recommend the workshops and online resources offered by the university, particularly the free workshops (I occasionally check them out when I get so deep in my research that I feel I’ve forgotten how to string together a sentence!).

I did not quit though. I reminded myself that I had my own strengths and achievements, and focused on improving myself within my own abilities, rather than others. For me, impostor syndrome is exacerbated by comparison with others and in a competitive environment, it is virtually impossible not to compare yourself to others.

However, it is important to realise getting into law school is an achievement. Every single piece of information you learn is an achievement. Every time you don’t give up when you want to, is an achievement. You have your own unique abilities and when you have the need to improve on skills that are necessary to studying law, then that is something you can do.

As a mature age student who never completed high school let alone attend university, I probably struggled with this more than some. When I was accepted to enrol in a Bachelor of Arts, I honestly thought someone had made a mistake! I spent the first couple of years waiting for someone to tap me on the shoulder and say “Hey! How did you get here? You can’t be here! (laughing) You’re not smart enough to do a degree!” Then I got accepted to transfer to a BA Psych degree. Really? Me? All the while I kept looking over my shoulder (figuratively speaking) at the Law Department and thinking, ‘I wish I could do that’.

Then one day, I considered the fact that I never thought I would be able to go to university at all. I did so well in my first couple of semesters that they then let me enrol in a psychology degree! I wonder if I could actually get accepted into law? Guess what?

Getting into law school was really just the beginning.

Nothing quite prepares you for all the struggle that comes with it. You go from being one of the brightest kids in high school to suddenly being one of the many bright intellectuals in law school and it is quite a shock to the system. The adjustment period was a debilitating experience for me. I was the first of my immediate family to make it into a degree of this kind and also be able to graduate university. There was no one to guide me through the university experience nor was I cultured or connected with the same lifestyle of most of my peers. On top of facing all of this pressure, I could count with one hand how many other Filipino women from the Western Suburbs, like me, who were studying this degree. I often felt alienated; like I didn’t belong.

Majority of the first couple of years of law school and up until now, I wrestled with doubt. What am I doing in this degree? Am I good enough to study law? Am I even cut out to be a lawyer? These were the underlying anxieties I faced all while trying to keep on top of numerous readings, contribute valuable answers in class and get reasonable marks with my assignments. It didn’t help that most of the first year I wasn’t getting the marks I expected. This made me feel worse about myself. I didn’t feel worthy enough to be sitting amongst my peers who seemed so proactive and eloquent in answering. but there I was, an introverted INFJ, struggling to voice all the thoughts burgeoning in my mind.

When I struggled to understand the verbose readings we were assigned, I beat myself up internally. Why can’t I understand this?

I bet everyone is breezing through this reading while it takes me hours. I set myself extreme standards for assignments, feeling anxious every time I had to hand something in because to me, it just wasn’t good enough. I would never be able to write the way my peers did. I was constantly comparing myself to others and

So now I have just completed a double degree in Psychology with an LLB Laws. I think the biggest epiphany for me was the realisation that I deserved to be there. I worked hard for that! I should never have felt like I didn’t belong or like someone must have really lost the plot to think I was good enough to do this. I am good enough. I am smart enough. I am enough. If you have trouble with ‘impostor syndrome’, if you are riddled with self-doubt, if you think you will never get there or that someone will suddenly realise you don’t belong here… write these affirmations in size 36 font, in bold, and underlined and stick them to your bathroom mirror and repeat them to yourself every single day.