Stress Awareness Month

I appreciate that you may have no time to read this because you are too stressed, but just in case: stress is how we react when we feel under pressure or threatened, usually in a situation we don’t feel we can manage or control. It can help you to perform well under pressure, but chronic stress has detrimental effects both mental and physical. There are lists of symptoms readily available, it may not help to list them all here. There may be a danger in medicalising everyday reactions to the slings and arrows we all face, but if you look at the signs, none of them are positive.
The strategies for reducing and coping with stress vary, but include getting enough sleep, relaxation, or physical exercise. This is all too easy to say, but less so to put into effect.  However, there is help out there, a good starting point is looking up 10 stress busters on the NHS website.
So, what is this to do with the law? It would be tempting to say that there really are causes in evidence, in the way things are conducted. We have all come across bone headed battering rams masquerading as legal representatives. It really doesn’t help anyone, least of all the court, or the client. To the extent that there is one, the purpose of this is a plea for a little more thought and even kindness in the way we deal with each other, so that we are not just another of the many stressors that have to be faced.