Personal meets Professional

Monday evening I received this screen shot of a Facebook message from a friend. She wanted to warn me of a “Peeping Tom” in my neighborhood.

The guy was arrested on charges unrelated to voyeurism (he had numerous warrants for traffic violations and was not “caught in the act,”) however he was out of jail the next day. When I went to work the following morning I was ready to dig for more information about the alleged “Peeping Tom” and to see if I could put a story together.

There, arises one of my favorite debates. Is there such thing as a divide between work and your personal life? I say a big fat no. Working in the news is a good example. First, news never sleeps, things don’t only happen during the traditional 8 am – 5 pm shift. Of course, you can always “tune out” while you are off the clock, but then you often spend your shift playing catch up.

As people we wear a lot of different hats. These hats are the roles in which we take on throughout our lives. You might be a mother, business owner, runner, and friend. The truth is though, these hats, can never truly be taken off. We wear them all at once. And to say my experiences as a journalist doesn’t shape the way I interact with people when I am not wearing that hat because I'm off the job would be wrong.

It’s like what they say when you are trying a diet. A diet, never works. It’s a lifestyle that is going to make you successful. We need to find a healthy lifestyle that allows us to balance the various roles we play including the ones at work and at home.

#lifestyle #character #work #personallife #home