Is my practice collapsing?

That's the question all barristers ask themselves from time to time! When we are busy, we do nothing but moan about the hours we work. I frequently annoy Mr Beagle by detailing how many hours I worked the previous evening - and after a full day in court, mind! - or canceling plans we'd made because I've been landed with a tonne of work for the next day. When we are not busy and have days out of court, we fret that there is no work around and that we must have done something to annoy our clerks or solicitors. Suspicious that others may have pilfered our work, we obsess about our colleagues' workloads. Only assurances that loads of other people are out of court too and/or Messrs Bloggs & Co have got us ear-marked for a big case can placate us. After a couple of weeks of panicking about being over-worked, I'm now panicking because this week has been rather slow! Out of court on Monday, just a couple of mentions yesterday and today, plus I'm out of court tomorrow. How I yearn for the middle ground! I've even managed to get up to date with Advices and other paperwork, so I really have nothing useful to do tomorrow. Except worry. We barristers are anxious creatures beneath our confident exteriors.