Here, time is too scarce and the tasks too demanding. For some lawyers the effect is depression, the opposite of anxiety. Here, time looms large and becomes heavy. Time seems to slip away as the lawyer stares at her work or plays computer games, while becoming increasingly mired in guilt and self-reproach. Here, time is not apportioned in minutes on the clock but by the inner experience of the moment.
Time stands still.
One becomes unconscious of time. The culture of law works against these moments. My clinical notes are full of reports by disgruntled spouses who complain of their partner lugging a laptop to their child's baseball game or missing dinner many nights. Perhaps, the time devoted to the important activities of the day should reflect the balance that one hopes to achieve in one's life overall. For if you don't have it in every day, or at least in every week, you likely won't get it in your life.