Spring Into Spring

May 2023

By Sabrina Green

It is officially Spring! I may sound redundant when I say it is my favorite season of the year. Fall comes in a distant second, and I assume that is because I do not care for pumpkin spice products. 

For me, and I assume many of us, Spring is when I feel motivated again. I have sufficiently recovered from the holidays and the rush of court dates crammed into January and February. So this is the time when I tackle spring cleaning at my office. 

Attorneys often use the month of April to spring clean their offices. This is because the beginning of Spring coincides with the end of the tax season, which makes it a convenient time to close out old files, shred archived files, and declutter your desktops and workspaces. 

Now is the time to have your office furniture, floors, and carpets cleaned and to throw away those dead plants you forgot to water for months so your office provides a more welcoming environment for clients and colleagues. Spring cleaning can also help you stay on top of your cases and administrative tasks. A clean and organized office can improve productivity and reduce stress. Spring cleaning can help you identify areas for improvement needed in your office systems and allow you to make necessary changes to streamline your workflow, making you more productive throughout the remainder of the year. 

Spring is also the time when I start to prioritize exercise and self-care again. It’s just not motivating to go out for a run at 5:30 p.m. when it’s cold and dark, and the coyotes are already out hunting in my neighborhood. Now I am getting out and about again after work. It is time to go for that run, break out the bikes, and start planting all those tomatoes and zucchini that I promise myself I will eat and not pawn off on my fellow co-workers who are in the same excess zucchini boat as me by summer. 

It’s also a great time to try something new. Obviously, we all are engaged in stressful careers. Spring is a great time to prioritize stress management, whether it be through meditation, yoga, trying a new physical activity, or just spending more time outdoors soaking up some vitamin D. 

CLA’s Health and Wellness Committee is a great resource and motivator for you this spring. Whether you want to take a yoga class, explore a plant-based diet, or promote clear thinking, you can find it all on CLA’s website under Health and Wellness. 

Also, on April 25, CLA’s Health and Wellness Committee hosted its very anticipated Town Hall: Losing Our [Best] Minds. This Town Hall featured a full conversation of CLA and California Women Lawyers’ joint statewide task force findings based on the groundbreaking 2020 CLA and D.C. Bar joint research project. The task force produced a report with recommendations for various stakeholders of the California legal community entitled “Losing Our [Best] Minds: Addressing the Attrition Crisis of Women Lawyers in a Post-Pandemic World.”

Overall, Spring is a great opportunity to start the season out right in your office and at home. Recommitting to your health and well-being will set up you to feel your best both physically and mentally for the rest of the year. Just remember my gardener’s motto for this spring, “If you plant it…you must eat it!”

Sabrina Green is Chair of CLA’s Board of Representatives.