Editor’s note: This post is part of the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program’s Stories of Recovery blog series. TLAP offers confidential assistance for lawyers, law students, and judges with substance use or mental health issues. Call or text TLAP at 1-800-343-8527 (TLAP) and find more information at tlaphelps.org.

One beautiful spring morning, I was preparing to leave my house for my corporate Big Law job. I remember the warm morning sun through my kitchen window and my dog basking contentedly in the rays. Birds were chirping and the air was crisp, clean. All of these signs were harbingers of better times ahead after what had been a long, languishing winter. I wanted to stay there a bit longer and soak up some of the peace of the moment. But it was time to go, I’d regret being late to work more than I would enjoy lingering in this moment.