What, like its hard?

Everyone I know is either in law school or applying to law school. I don't know if it's just my circle of friends or if going to the law school is the thing to do right now, but I know when I applied to schools two years ago I had no idea what I was getting into. Here's my advice for surviving your 1L year.

Rest/Relax when you can

Take a break from reading/outlining/studying. Go outside, grab a coffee, just do anything but law school for five minutes. I promise that it will make all the difference.

Be understanding

There are going to be people in your life who aren't in law school and they're not going to understand the amount of stress you're under. That's okay because it's hard to understand when you're not going through it yourself. Just understand that they're trying to support you but they might not get that you're losing your mind and terrified of being cold called. It doesn't mean they don't love you, they jus't can't get it.

Don't think you're smarter than everyone else

Everyone gets it: you're a law school student. But surprisingly, not that many people are going to care and to some extent, they shouldn't. Law school is a glorified version of graduate school and it doesn't make you any more intelligent than anyone else. If you're all high and mighty because you're in law school, people are going to dislike you and then when you graduate from school and you're actually a lawyer then your clients aren't going to appreciate feeling like you think you're smarter than they are. 

Have fun

This goes along with resting and relaxing. Go out with your friends. Go see a movie. You're allowed to have fun and not feel guilty. You can't be "on" 24/7 because you're going to burn out.

Accept that you may change

Sometimes law school changes you. During my 1L year I found myself being less understanding of things I normally would have been okay. I also found myself being more understanding of things I normally would have rejected. You're going to discover sides of yourself that you normally wouldn't because of the amount of stress and pressure you're under.

It's going to be okay

I know it seems like it's not going to be OK when you've been cold called in every class and your LRAW paper is due and your boyfriend doesn't understand why you randomly start crying. But it's going to be OK. You're not going through anything alone. Everyone has bad days/weeks but you'll get through it. You aren't going to fail your exams and you're not going to be homeless. Things happen for a reason.

Call your mom and dad

Seriously. These people get you and they will tell you the truth. And they won't judge you.