"Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. "
-Martin Luther King Jr., “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” Dec. 3 1956, Montgomery, Alabama

These words from Dr. King have meaning for me today and every day.  Many lawyers and law professors are strivers, and I count myself among them.  We understand the burdens and joys of our roles and pursue them with vigor.  Having recently stepped back from an interim administrative role at UT Law, I feel more free to refocus on my instructional mission.

A tweet from a law prof colleague over the weekend asks a question that resonates.

I just love this observation and the related question! I am not on social media as much as I used to be, but when I am, I often am rewarded by tidbits like this.  Thank you, David, for commenting and asking.

I did reply.  FWIW, my reply was "For me, it’s about setting limits and persevering. There’s always more one can do. But we need sleep and time away to be most effective. And so we must sleep and save things for another day!"  Other replies offered similar and other personal wisdom.

Our roles as law professors–if we want to do the job well–involve focused attention and extensive effort.  Teaching (with all that entails from course design to assessment), researching,  writing, editing, and performing service to benefit the school, the university, the community, the academy, and the profession can be a heavy load to bear.  Managing it with self care can be a struggle.  That struggle is real, and we should, as David does, acknowledge and address it.  After all, Dr. King also is quoted as having said the words set forth below in a sermon, “The Three Dimensions of a Complete Life,” in April 1967 at the New Covenant Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois.

You know, a lot of people don’t love themselves. And they go through life with deep and haunting emotional conflicts. So the length of life means that you must love yourself. And you know what loving yourself also means? It means that you’ve got to accept yourself.

Words of wisdom.  And so we plod on, endeavoring to do our life's work well while also accepting and loving ourselves.  The latter should not be a burden, but rather a commitment to self leadership through self love that enables us to do our best work. 

Thank you, Dr. King, for helping lead us through, even years after your untimely death.  And again thank you, David, for your resonant post.