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| Harjot Atwal |
You may eat, sleep and breathe the law. Perhaps you consider it to be a higher calling, where you help the disadvantaged people in distress in our society achieve just outcomes. Maybe it’s just a job for you, but you like to provide excellent customer service and find doing so is all-consuming in terms of the time commitment involved.
But, in order to maintain our mental health (and our sanity), not everything in life can be about our respective legal practices. We need outlets.
Your hobby of choice could be anything. Importantly, it should provide you a physical break, mental break or both. I’ve heard people talk about gardening, riffing on a musical instrument, painting or playing sports. While I don’t personally engage in any of those activities, I can imagine that having a “green thumb,” being active or immersing oneself in creative endeavours could provide with you a respite from stress and, thus, help you to achieve some mental clarity that will no doubt assist your legal problem-solving abilities in the future.
Personally, at the risk of this sounding like a dating profile, I like the following: reading, spending time with family and friends, listening to music (1990s and early 2000s hip hop and R&B preferably), finding interesting places to eat (but not quite a foodie) and watching TV and movies.
I would not consider those things to be hobbies, though. I think a hobby has to be deeper than that. It has to sort of hit you in a profound way. When you’re doing it, it is all you are thinking about.
For example, when I’m watching TV or listening to music, my mind still sometimes drifts to concerns about making sure I have requested all documents needed to close a real estate transaction, whether I need to write an email to my clients about the possibility getting a consultation with a litigation lawyer since their transaction is at risk of being terminated for not closing on time, or the myriad of other things that come up in daily legal practice.
My main hobby is writing. I’ve simply loved writing since I was a kid. But, it’s not always a hobby. Writing email after email as part of my professional responsibilities certainly does not involve a respite from stress. Neither does writing a legal article about some real estate law case involving joint ventures, losing $50,000 deposits, expropriation compensation or whether air parcels can be assessed as land. Just to name a few. For the most part, I write those articles to learn, as I find there is no better way to educate myself than to drill down on an issue to the point where I can write an article about it, as I have explained more fully here.
Writing an article like this one is definitely much closer to being a hobby. Basically, I’m just sharing my thoughts. But, writing and sharing my poetry is where I feel my true hobby lies.
I’m very lucky that my editor friend runs a creative writing group and that he invited me to join it about 2.5 years ago. While I don’t always make every weekly meeting, it is nice to go when I can, share my poem of the week (which I usually write specifically for the meeting based on current events or past ones I am reflecting on) and then get positive feedback from a small community of fellow writers. Additionally, I recently found another group where I can share my poetry (even on a daily basis if I want).
Not only is it nice to share, but I find writing the poems to be therapeutic and cathartic. My editor friend also likes to share an anecdote that the anticipation of a happy event (like attending a writing group meeting) releases the same happiness hormones as the event itself. Even if the anticipation happiness outweighs the real event, I’ll take happiness where I can get it.
What other hobbies do I have? The main one is exercise. I’ve written here about how I lost 120 pounds, primarily from walking outside. Getting more fit is a great motivator. This also allowed me to engage in some photography, a past hobby of mine with which I sort of have an on-and-off relationship.
Two days ago, I cancelled my GoodLife membership (since the nearest locations are a 20- to 25-minute drive from my house) and joined the nearby Anytime Fitness (as it is five minutes walking from my house). It’s very convenient and open 24/7.
I think it is common knowledge that exercise releases endorphins or other happiness hormones. After I’m done an hour of weightlifting and two of hours of cardio on the treadmill like I did yesterday, I am pretty relaxed. I’m also usually too tired to be really worried about anything. Plus, when you are going so hard on the treadmill that you sweat out 3.5 pounds of water weight per hour of incline-walking, you’re not thinking about work or anything stressful. You’re trying to convince yourself to keep going as hard and as long as possible while possibly focusing on the lyrics of your music as a distraction from the physical exertion involved.
So, I think a hobby like joining a writing group and sharing poems can help you build skills in communication, creativity, leadership and networking. All of these come in handy for the practising lawyer. Going to the gym not only provides mental clarity and benefits of relaxation after the fact, but it’s possible you could meet your next client there as well. I’m sure other hobbies more personalized to the lawyer engaging in them could provide similar benefits.
Moreover, I think if you feel good, you do better work. You will likely have better relationships with your clients, and having hobbies would probably help with avoiding burnout and having a long-lasting and successful career.
I’ll end with a rhyme courtesy of Phyllis McGinley: “A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away.”
Harjot Atwal is a real estate lawyer. In 2023, he opened up his own shop, Atwal Law Firm. You can reach him via email at harjot@atwallawfirm.ca, by phone at 905-264-8926 or on LinkedIn.
The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the author’s firm, its clients, Law360 Canada, LexisNexis Canada or any of its or their respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
Interested in writing for us? To learn more about how you can add your voice to Law360 Canada contact Analysis Editor Peter Carter at peter.carter@lexisnexis.ca or call 647-776-6740.