Welcome to Day 4 of Well-Being Week in Law (WWIL)!

The week’s purpose “is to raise awareness about mental health and encourage action and innovation across the profession all year-round to improve well-being.”

This year’s theme is The Social Rx. The Institute for Well-Being in Law’s (IWIL) website explains further:

  • “High-quality relationships and group belonging are chief sources of well-being. On the other hand, workplace loneliness can damage well-being and workplace functioning.  So, while ‘self-care’ is needed, our attention to connecting with others is critical. For example, research suggests that doing kind acts for others generally bolsters psychological well-being more than self-care activities.”

WWIL devotes one day to each of 5 dimensions of well-being: physical, spiritual, career & intellectual, social, and emotional.  Here’s today’s focus:

  • Dimension of Well-Being:             Social
  • Thought:                                            “Connect.”
  • Goals:                                                 “Building connection, belonging, and a reliable support

networks.  Contributing to our groups and communities.”

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed discussing the “social” dimension of well-being.

On a cool morning in May of 2020, I shared this video in which I mentioned a few of the communities in which I’ve been able to make connections that I value: coaching, running, and being a Steelers fan.  Two years later I focused on IWIL’s suggestion to mark the day by expressing gratitude

Indeed, expressing gratitude is one of the three activities that IWIL has prescribed to help address social well-being again this year. Per IWIL’s website:

  • “Feeling a sense of belonging and that one matters is the opposite of feeling lonely. It flows from feeling accepted, included, respected, and contributing to our work and workplaces.”
  • “Feeling and expressing gratitude to others also can benefit you. It can help protect and promote your own physical and psychological health and strengthen your relationships at work and at home.”

I’d never suggest something that I’m not willing to do myself. So, I’ll take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who lent your thoughts, prayers, and support upon learning of my diagnosis. Both humbling and overwhelming, it provided a sense of connection to Vermont’s legal community from which I’ve been able to draw strength throughout the journey.

Which brings me to the point I want to make today. It’s one I’ve raised before, both in the 2020 video and in a few well-being posts that weren’t associated with Well-Being Week in Law.

Chances are, we all know someone who is struggling, whether from stress, depression, impostor syndrome, an addiction, or any of a number of other behavioral health issues that are all too prevalent among legal professions. 

Reach out to that person.  Connect with them.

I sense what some of you are thinking: “Mike, how? I’m not trained. I don’t know what to say.”

Respectfully, I disagree.  You know EXACTLY what to say.  The same things you said to me when you found out I had pancreatic cancer! 

And there’s no special training required.  Just be yourself.  As I blogged here in 2020:

  • “There are times when it’s not necessary to over complicate things.  Each one of us can be our own lawyer assistance program.  If someone you know has withdrawn, maybe all they need is chance to say ‘hey, thanks for thinking of me.’  Sometimes, that’s all it takes.”

Indeed, maybe a simple check-in is all it will take to help some reconnect to a community from which they feel disconnected or that they feel has left them behind.

I get it.  It’s hard.

But you know what?

We’ve already established that you can do hard things.

Connect! You won’t regret the effort.

As always, let’s be careful out there.

RELATED MATERIAL

Related Posts

2025 Well-Being Week in Law

  • Monday – Physical Well-Being – “Stay Strong.”  The theme prompted me to encourage readers to take “The Sleep Squad Challenge.” 
  • Tuesday – Spiritual Well-Being – “Align.”  To me, when it comes to spiritual well-being, to each their own
  • Wednesday – Intellectual Well-Being – “Engage & Grow.”  Challenge yourself to learn something new.

Related Material from the Institute for Well-Being in Law

My Videos from Prior Well-Being Weeks