Surviving the Holidays as a Court Reporter – A Realistic Guide to Family Drama, Deadlines, and the December Blues

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The holidays are supposed to be warm, sparkly, and joyful. But if you’re a court reporter, the season often arrives with something very different: transcript hell, family chaos, financial pressure, illness, emotional landmines, and the quiet ache of expectations you can’t possibly meet.

While everyone else seems to be posting perfect family photos and clinking champagne glasses, reporters are often hunched over their machines or laptops, trying to finish work before the year resets and the clock restarts. And somewhere in between, you’re expected to be festive.

This article is for every reporter who feels overwhelmed, stretched thin, or quietly struggling. You are not alone — and you can survive this season with your peace (mostly) intact.

1. Acknowledge the Reality — Court Reporters Don’t Get “Time Off”

The biggest stressor of the season is simple:
Our deadlines don’t pause for the holidays.

While other professions wind down, ours ramps up. Trials get squeezed in. Depositions pile up. Attorneys want transcripts “before the break.” And year-end billing catches up with all of us.

You are not weak for feeling drained — you are operating in a high-stress, high-demand profession during the most emotionally charged time of year.

Give yourself permission to acknowledge that your job makes December harder.
That honesty alone can lift some of the guilt.

2. Family Drama Doesn’t Mean You’re Doing Life Wrong

Every family has its quirks, but holidays magnify them.

Some reporters are juggling complicated relatives.
Some are dealing with divorce, estranged family members, or “helpful” comments from people who think they know your life better than you do.
Some are raising kids with little or no support.
And some are doing it completely alone.

Remember this:
A tense holiday season doesn’t mean your life is broken — it means your family is human.

If your peace requires distance or boundaries, that’s not disrespectful.
That’s emotional survival.

Try this line if you need an escape hatch:
“Let’s talk about that another time — today I’m focusing on keeping things peaceful.”

Boundaries help everyone breathe.

3. If You’re Grieving or Lonely, Your Heart Is Telling the Truth

Holidays heighten absence.

If you’ve lost someone — recently or years ago — those waves of grief are not regression. They’re a natural response to reminders of togetherness.
If you’re in a lonely marriage, or navigating separation, or feeling isolated at family gatherings, that ache is real.
If your life doesn’t look like the happy Instagram photos, that doesn’t mean you’re failing.

Court reporters often feel invisible already. The holidays can make that ache louder.

What helps?

  • Acknowledge the grief instead of fighting it
  • Create one ritual that brings comfort (a candle, a photo, a moment of quiet)
  • Let one person — just one — know you’re struggling
  • Give yourself permission to have a “light lift holiday” with minimal expectations

Loneliness is not a character flaw — it’s a signal that you deserve more connection and support.

4. Manage Transcript Hell Without Sacrificing Your Sanity

You can’t make the workload disappear, but you can make it manageable.

Triage your transcripts like an ER:

  1. Stat – Rushes, appeals, court-ordered deadlines
  2. Urgent – End-of-year requests
  3. Routine – Everything else

Then break your work into realistic time blocks.

  • 90 minutes on
  • 15 minutes off
  • Repeat

This approach preserves your focus and avoids burnout.

A few survival strategies:

  • Don’t take December work you don’t want
  • Communicate turnaround times clearly
  • Say no to last-minute rushes unless the rate makes it worthwhile
  • Don’t try to “earn peace” by overworking

Transcript hell feels endless, but it’s temporary. You will get through it — you always do.

5. Avoid the Financial Stress Spiral

Court reporting income is feast-or-famine, and December often arrives with famine disguised as feast: extra work, but also extra costs.

Overspending is usually emotional, not financial.
It’s a desire to compensate — for stress, loneliness, guilt, or family dynamics.

A few reporter-friendly financial rules:

  • Set a holiday spending cap before shopping
  • Give experiences, not things
  • Don’t compete with other households
  • Put December income toward January bills first
  • Avoid “buy now, regret later” purchases when stressed

Your value is not measured in gifts.
Your presence is the present.

6. Protect Your Health — Physical and Mental

Reporters get sick more during the holidays for a reason: stress compromises everything.

Take small steps:

  • Hydrate (you’d be shocked how much this helps your brain)
  • Sleep at least 6–7 hours
  • Take a daily walk or stretch session
  • Keep vitamins visible
  • Use a humidifier if you’re editing late into the night

And mentally:

  • Reduce contact with people who drain you
  • Give yourself permission to decline invitations
  • Allow moments of quiet
  • Talk to someone if things feel too heavy

You don’t need to pretend you’re okay. You just need to take care of yourself in small, consistent ways.

7. Lower the Bar: Expect Less of the Holiday and More of Yourself

Not more pressure — more compassion.

You don’t need a perfect holiday.
You don’t need to host, decorate, bake, or perform emotional labor.
You don’t need to make everyone else happy.

What if this year, the holiday was simply this:

  • A peaceful home
  • A moment of joy with your child
  • A meal you actually enjoy
  • A day without chaos
  • A few hours without work
  • A reminder that survival counts as success

You don’t need a perfect holiday. You need a kind one.

8. Create One Tradition That’s Just for You

Court reporters are always taking care of others — parties, kids, spouses, attorneys, deadlines. Try this:

Choose just one thing that makes you feel grounded.

Maybe:

  • A coffee ritual on Christmas morning
  • A cozy movie night with your child
  • Writing a New Year’s letter to yourself
  • A sunset walk
  • Lighting a candle for people you miss
  • A new book
  • A day trip with no obligations

Make something yours.
Claim a small corner of the season.
That’s how healing begins.

Final Thought: You’re Allowed to Want a Better Holiday — and a Better Life

The holidays often highlight what’s missing. But they also highlight something else:

Your resilience. Your strength. Your capacity to keep going.

Court reporters carry so much — emotionally, mentally, financially, professionally.
Yet you still show up.
You still love your children fiercely.
You still deliver excellence in a profession most people don’t understand.
You still try, even when no one is trying for you.

This season may be hard, but it won’t break you.

You are worth peace.
You are worth love.
You are worth a holiday that feels gentle.

One season at a time, you’re building something better — for yourself and for the people who depend on you.

StenoImperium
Court Reporting. Unfiltered. Unafraid.

Disclaimer

I’m not a CPA or financial planner — I’m sharing what I’ve learned as a working reporter navigating these same decisions. Everyone’s financial situation is different, so please talk with your accountant or tax professional before making changes based on this guide.

This article includes analysis and commentary based on observed events, public records, and legal statutes.

The content of this post is intended for informational and discussion purposes only. All opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are based on publicly available information, industry standards, and good-faith concerns about nonprofit governance and professional ethics. No part of this article is intended to defame, accuse, or misrepresent any individual or organization. Readers are encouraged to verify facts independently and to engage constructively in dialogue about leadership, transparency, and accountability in the court reporting profession.

  • The content on this blog represents the personal opinions, observations, and commentary of the author. It is intended for editorial and journalistic purposes and is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
  • Nothing here constitutes legal advice. Readers are encouraged to review the facts and form independent conclusions.

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Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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