A TCL Interview: Richard Eynon
TCL: Do you think lawyers as a whole are a healthy population? Why? Why not?
No. Too much stress. Too much hostility among lawyers. As someone recently said, “In the old days lawyers made life difficult for everyone else. Now lawyers make life difficult for each other.” We are one of the leading professions with anxiety and depression. It is the adversary nature of our profession that leads to lawyers’ stress. In our profession, as with others, alcohol and even drugs are fall-backs to constant stress.
TCL: How would you describe your health overall? What has contributed to your level of healthiness?
Good health. Recognized early that nutrition and exercise are important to good health, especially in a stressful profession. Eat healthy, but not in an obsessive manner. Eat fast food in moderation. In fact, moderation is a great rule of life.
Most of my exercise is achieved through playing basketball a couple of times a week over the lunch hour. It not only contributes to my physical health, but to my mental health, in sharing time with different groups of people who are in different professions and of all ages. We all share a common bond of the love of basketball, but also share “un-stress” time as well.
TCL: What specifically do you do to take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually? What would you recommend to others?
Hardest area to address is mental well-being. Must learn to turn off work in my mind; must learn to share the good and bad with another—friend, spouse, significant other. Don’t be afraid to talk from the heart. Not sharing or communicating is not healthy. You must have an outlet to let some things out.
It is spiritually important to worship and share your soul with others as well. The church community is another group of people you don’t usually see at work or in our profession. Worship tends to be reflective in a different way; it slows you down. It makes me look at the bigger picture of life, if only for a few hours per week. We all need love and forgiveness. Our spiritual life allows that to happen without strings attached.
TCL: What are the indicators you use to let you know when your life is in or out of balance? How do you find and maintain it in your life – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual?
My barometer is my lack of sleep. When I get tired, I get emotional very easily. The first time something sets me off inside that would not ordinarily occur, I know I am pushing myself too hard and have become tired. It sets off my internal warning system that says, “Slow down now,” or my body will make me slow down with some illness or worse. Once again, I try to see what has changed to cause this reaction. I can usually figure it out and try to moderate whatever extreme has set off the warning. This seems overly simplistic, but it has worked well for me.
TCL: How do you define “good health”?
Moderation of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual lifestyles. Keep these all in balance and your chances increase for good health. Finding that balance will take time. It may take getting to know yourself better. Often we don’t stop or stand still long enough to step inside our body and soul to take a real look at who we are and what we really need. Identifying and controlling stress is an imperfect art. Not all stress is bad. How to draw the line is the quandary.
TCL: Is there any relationship between mental and physical health? If so, how do they affect each other?
I believe they balance each other. If you are not physically healthy, your mental health will suffer. Likewise, your physical health will suffer if you don’t take care of your stress and depression.
We lawyers often ignore the need for relief from the adverse effects of our profession. We need assistance in what I call “quality of life” issues. If the qualities of our lives are improved, then we will be better attorneys and can better counsel our clients. Lawyers can no longer ignore the stress and depression of our profession. It needs to be addressed in seminars, in our annual meetings, and in our publications. There are plenty of written materials and professionals to assist us in getting a better handle on our professional and personal lives.
TCL: Think of a person you consider to be in excellent health? How does this person maintain his or her health?
Healthy people have determined that moderation is the rule of life. They do all of the things that we have discussed involving health, emotion, and spiritual uplift. They usually have figured out how to control their work energy. They are not workaholics, but have found a balance of work, family, God and body. They also have acknowledged that this profession is stressful and depressing, and have taken strides to control that fact.
TCL: What is the single most important factor in excellent health? In harming health?
Moderation. Anything in excess harms your health—too much work, worry, food, drink or even leisure.
TCL: What is the state of health of your law firm as a whole?
Pretty good. Probably too much stress, but we have identified that as a problem and are working on solutions.
TCL: Do you have any additional comments about the state of health in the profession of law?
We can do much better in dealing with our stress and depression and the abuses that often occur as a result. I wrote for the Indiana State Bar Association publication Res Gestae (June 2007), addressing the issue of quality of life. Most states now have CLE programs addressing these issues, and others are slowly getting out of the Stone Age to acknowledge that we are working in an extremely fast-paced profession that, by its very confrontational nature, increases our levels of stress and depression. There is an abundance of literature and personnel ready to assist us. We need to address these issues within our own associations. Large corporations and judges associations have recognized stress as a problem, and have taken steps in their professional meetings and conferences to address it. There are several books on the market that deal with attorney stress. One in particular is Stress Management for Lawyers: How to Increase Personal & Professional Satisfaction in the Law,” by Amiram Elwork, Ph.D., 3rd Edition (Vorkell Group, 2007). I highly recommend it.
RICHARD EYNON
Richard S. Eynon is a graduate of Valparaiso University (J.D. 1969). Rich practices at Eynon Law Group, P.C. in Columbus, Indiana, focusing on civil litigation areas of personal injury, wrongful death and product liability; he is also a registered civil and domestic mediator. Rich has been actively involved in numerous law-affiliated organizations during his 38 years of practice, including the Indiana State Bar Association where he served as President in 2006-2007. His participation in many civic activities includes judging in the “We the People” organization, as well being involved with Friends of Hidalgo, Inc., serving a remote village in Mexico. Rich has three adult children and five grandchildren. In his spare time he enjoys living on a lake, fishing, playing golf, and shooting hoops regularly with other former college players in Columbus.
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