Navigating Difficult Times

Max Stearns

A note: I delivered the remarks that follow yesterday, the final day of my Constitutional Law I: Structure and Governance course. Following number 7 on the list below, I offered an aside: I'll be attending my second Bruce Springsteen concert this coming May with dear friends I attended my first Springsteen concert with in 1982.

Navigating Difficult Times

We are living in difficult times. This is true at practically every level and in nearly every domain. Professions are being challenged—some seemingly upended—by AI. We are experiencing a global trend toward authoritarianism, with only limited exceptions. And we are witnessing hatreds that have moved from the darker corners of impolite company into everyday observation.

The causes are manifold: financial, political, cultural, and more.

Many young adults cannot afford key parts of the lives their parents took for granted—especially home ownership. Even those with the sorts of college degrees that not long ago ensured meaningful and lucrative careers increasingly struggle to find stable work.

I won’t pretend to be an expert in navigating difficult times. But by virtue of experience, I’ve spent more time trying than most of you.

What follows are not so much prescriptions as personal reflections—some ways I’ve come to think about how to navigate especially difficult periods.

1. Find buoys, not anchors.

A serious danger in our politics and culture is the division into two ever-widening camps. Anchors pull you down. If the price of belonging to a camp is complete adherence—even to its worst impulses—step back. Don’t let yourself be dragged under.

Look instead for buoys—people, ideas, or communities that keep you afloat—able to move, breathe, and see more clearly—without fixing you in place.

2. Find mentors or role models—but remember they are people.

Don’t assume that because someone excels in one domain, they have wisdom in all others. It’s fine to admire musicians, actors, novelists, or athletes for their work without embracing everything about them. It’s also fine to let what you learn about them shape how you view their work. But don’t insist that others draw the same lines you do.

And when you achieve stature in your own profession or another domain, be a mentor. Better yet, be one who models not just professional excellence, but the character traits you most admire.

3. Work toward finding meaning and purpose.

This may be the most important point. The social science literature on happiness consistently emphasizes that genuine well-being—distinct from fleeting, or hedonic, pleasure—arises from a deep connection to purpose.

I often say that the two most important decisions in life are what to do and who to be with. Find the career path that makes you want to get out of bed each morning knowing you have meaningful work to do. And find the person who brings that out in you—and for whom you are truly committed to doing the same.

4. Embrace atelic as well as telic pursuits.

Telic pursuits have endpoints. Atelic pursuits do not; they are endlessly ongoing. Right now, you are facing exams—that’s telic. But you are also in the process of becoming lawyers. That process doesn’t end. It’s atelic.

When the telic becomes frustrating, step back and focus on the larger, ongoing journey. When the atelic feels overwhelming, return to the telic—break things down into manageable pieces—and then return to the atelic.

5. Find complements to what you are doing.

I’m not the best at this one, but I believe it matters: find a meaningful activity outside your primary work. A sport, a musical instrument, theater, a club—something that engages you differently. Think of your career as a college major—and find a minor as well. Doing so will expand your world. It will remind you that there is always more to learn from people on different paths.

6. Read novels.

This may sound unexpected, but I believe it strongly. Fiction is essential to developing and sustaining empathy. It allows you to experience lives very different from your own—across class, race, religion, and circumstance. If law teaches analysis, let fiction preserve your empathy.

Neuroscientists describe what are called mirror neurons—the way we internalize the emotional experiences of others. Think of them as a kind of cognitive muscle. Don’t let them atrophy. Your analytic and empathetic capacities are complementary, not competing, systems. Honing both will make you better people, better citizens, and, yes, better lawyers.

7. Cultivate friendships, including with siblings.

I have seen older adults who have let these vital relationships lapse like an unpaid insurance policy or unused gym membership. It saddens me. I’ve been deeply fortunate in this regard, but it has also been a conscious choice. I can tell you from experience that maintaining these close relationships is among the most important investments you will ever make.

Friends and siblings not only enrich our lives; they are uniquely helpful in navigating challenging times. They tend to know us better than professional colleagues, neighbors, or others we meet later in life. As the demands of family and career add stress to your lives, it can seem easy to let old friendships fade. Please don’t. You won’t regret that decision.

8. Eschew simplistic narratives.

If your group portrays any other only in the harshest terms, maintain a deep skepticism. It is rarely, if ever, true that any single group, leader, or place is solely or even dominantly responsible for the world’s problems. When you hear such claims, resist the pull. Push yourself upward—and raise others along with you. Think more broadly, and see more expansively.

9. Don’t be afraid to stand alone.

Sometimes that is the price of principle. It can be lonely. But when you do it, you might just become someone else’s buoy.

It has been an honor and privilege to learn with you this semester. I wish you all the best of luck as you finish a genuine milestone—the end of your 1L year. And even more so as you begin your journey toward becoming leaders in a profession that matters.