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Wellness lessons from a Kyiv-based managing partner
A managing partner from a Ukrainian law firm and business coach detailed how they’re looking after wellbeing in the face of war.
Shandel McAuliffe
Myroslav Khmarskyi joined The Lawyers Weekly Show to share what working life has been like for him and his team since he heard the first explosions in Kyiv on 24 February. Mr Khmarskyi and his partner at legal firm Avitar are both coaches, which has stood them in good stead during these very stressful times.
Exercising is the next recommendation that Mr Khmarskyi made. He explained: “So, your body is like a hard disc drive. It accumulates all the tension, all the stress, everything that you can imagine, it accumulates in itself, and if you don’t let it out, it stays there, and with any trigger, it’ll burst again.”
Mr Khmarskyi commented that while it might seem silly to be focusing on exercising while another person was in arms defending Ukraine, it was still important.
He said: “I knew that I had to do some physical exercises. So, I went running, I did whatever I could in the circumstances … and it helped. So, physical exercise, it’s a very big relief when you’re stressed.”
The third wellness action that Mr Khmarskyi suggested is to find trusted people to talk to. He recommended: “sharing your emotions with the closest ones who won’t judge” and “sharing whatever is in your soul or heart”.
Mr Khmarskyi and his partner knew that their employees would be leaning on them, so they made sure they looked after their own wellbeing as quickly as possible. Mr Khmarskyi explained how they “dedicated a lot of our time to, first of all, deal with our own emotions and fears … because we realised that we would be the carriers of putting yourself back together for all of our team”.
It is also clear that having a sense of moving forward is important to Mr Khmarskyi and his team. They have recently hired a paralegal. Mr Khmarskyi stated: “We even managed to hire another paralegal to our team. This really cheers us up because we’re not lagging back and trying to fix things. Thank God, we can move forward and think ahead of us, not back.”
Mr Khmarskyi outlined on the episode a number of ways the international legal profession can help those in Ukraine and asked that: “Definitely whatever you feel like doing, and that can help, don’t neglect this feeling. You follow it and you do it. Even a small impact is an impact, and it supports [us].”
And on the wellness front, he mentioned: “If anyone has knowledge [about] psychological support in stressful situations, this is also helpful.”
The transcript of this podcast episode was slightly edited for publishing purposes. To listen to the full conversation with Myroslav Khmarskyi, click below:
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