At the end of my first year of struggle, I've learned not just laws and jurisprudence. I've also learned some tricks in making it through the hellhole that is law school. Kidding. Hehe. Here, I'm sharing with you a few life lessons I got from my day-to-day battles with attorneys, judges, and justices.
1. You can never have too many post its and highlighters.
I'm not a fan of writing or putting unnecessary marks on my books. I like my books clean and neat, and wrapped in plastic cover. And so, I felt like I committed an unforgivable sin when I broke my own book law. I slowly came to the realization that I will not be able to memorize anything unless I write on my books or highlight the important points. It's really not as bad as it looks. In fact, it's helped me to be more organized. I still follow a rule though: color coding is important! Green for ObliCon, Pink for Crim and Blue for Consti.
2. You don't have all the time in the world.
Time management is important. This is something I should have learned a long time ago. An eight-hour sleep is next to impossible when you're in law school. I used to attend classes with just four or five hours of sleep. That's on a daily basis ha. When it's exam week, I usually get just two to three hours of shuteye. All other hours of the day I spend on reading and reading and reading.
3. You need all the friends you can get.
I was blessed to get the best support system in law school. My friends are as determined as I am to finish the "four-year" course, even with flying colors. Neat trick: make friends with those you can study and hang-out with. It's not all about the bad stuff. Sometimes, you need those friends to celebrate with at the end of one grueling law course.
4. You can stop to breathe once in a while.
I have come to accept the fact that I cannot do everything all at the same time. "Isa-isa lang, mahina ang kalaban," was a recurring phrase in my subconscious for the past ten months. Sometimes, I find myself just spacing out, with a faraway look in my eyes. It's not healthy, trust me. Some people are actually just waiting for me to snap. Haha. So here's a cool tip: close the books for even just an hour or two each week. Breathe in. Breath out.
5. Nothing beats the power of prayer.
I've learned to visit the Abbey everyday, as in everyday, before going to class. What do I pray for? For the professor not to show up, or for a no-recitation class, or for ceasefire, or for my class card not to be on deck. Mind you, I don't pray just to ask for something. I go to the Abbey to thank God for a smooth-sailing recitation the previous day. Or for the kapal ng mukha He gave me to answer unbelievable questions in stride. The point is: whatever I pray for, the Big Boss up there knows how to answer.
The road to being a lawyer is a really long one. I'm well-aware of that. But there are a lot of things I'm not sure of. I'm not even sure if I'll be a lawyer. One thing's positive though: I'll continue adding to this list of five life lessons as I go along.
*Pictures grabbed from Google Images.
