In 2017 The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change was published by the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being. The report has become the catalyst for efforts to improve the well-being of lawyers nationwide and here in Idaho.
What Is Attorney Well-Being?
The meaning of “well-being” is:
Maintaining well-being is part of lawyers’ ethical duty of competence. It calls for healthy, positive choices to assure that lawyers can be their best for their clients, families, organizations, and communities. Further, to be their best, lawyers depend on a large number of important contributors who are not lawyers. Therefore, well-being across the legal profession is an important goal.
The Task Force’s definition of well-being is not defined solely as an absence of dysfunction; nor is it limited to feeling “happy.” Full well-being is multi-dimensional and requires things like connection, belonging, continual growth, and aligning our lives with our values. It requires that we take care of all aspects of our lives.[1]
[1] Institute For Well-Being In Law, The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change(August 15, 2017), https://lawyerwellbeing.net/the-report/
The Idaho State Bar Attorney Well-Being Task Force invites you to celebrate Lawyer Well-Being Week, May 4th through May 8th, 2026. Join other members of the profession, the courts and support staff by participating in these free remote-friendly activities.
We will focus on a different aspect of well-being Monday through Friday. Every day you will have at least three different suggestions for activities and education. This “well- rounded” wheel shows the well-being emphasis for each day of the week. There is something for everyone!
For those looking to make long term changes to their well-being, we recommend that you try the 31 Day Mental Health Challenge. There are some impactful activities that can start any time of year!
2026 Theme: Tending Joy
This year’s overall theme is Tending Joy.
Joy Helps Us Thrive, Not Just Survive
Tending joy doesn’t mean minimizing real challenges — it means equipping ourselves to face them. Research shows that positive emotions like joy are functional psychological mechanisms that broaden our thinking, build durable personal resources, and create upward spirals toward greater well-being. Positive emotions like joy help repair the physiological effects of stress, accelerate cardiovascular recovery, and expand our capacity to solve problems and connect with others.
Joy Strengthens Every Season — Especially the Difficult Ones
We sometimes associate positive emotions with good times only. However, resilient people don’t just recover from adversity faster — they experience genuine positive emotions during difficult periods, alongside their stress and grief. This isn’t denial; it’s a core mechanism of how humans navigate hardship. Positive emotions during tough seasons:
- Broaden our thinking, helping us see options and possibilities we miss under stress
- Build lasting resources — stronger relationships, deeper self-knowledge, greater confidence — that sustain us over time
- Undo the narrowing physiological effects of stress, returning our minds and bodies to a state of flexibility
- Fuel upward spirals where better coping generates further positive emotion, which generates better coping still
Joy Improves Workplaces
The benefits of positive emotions extend well beyond individual well-being.
Organizational psychology research consistently links positive emotions at work to stronger performance, greater creativity, and more effective collaboration. Positive emotions increase engagement, bolster self-efficacy, and predict organizational citizenship behaviors — the discretionary acts of helpfulness and collegiality that hold teams together. In legal workplaces, where collaboration and trust are the backbone of effective practice, tending joy isn’t just personal — it’s professional infrastructure.
Tending Joy Is a Practice, Not a Personality Trait
Joy can be cultivated through intentional action. The most effective approaches combine multiple pathways rather than relying on any single habit.
WWIL 2026 encourages you to actively tend your joy this week — not by ignoring what’s hard, but by making room for what’s good alongside it. Try a well-being experiment focused on joy. Notice what already brings you, and others, energy and do more of it.