Despite a tremendous and expensive counseling effort to clarify the boundaries between my personal and professional life, today was the kind of day where I had a hard time separating what I do from who I am and I let it get to me.
PR is such a middleman profession, and on bad days you have to tell people you do not have the specific information they need, but here is a lot of other information you did not ask for that will maybe make you not notice I never answered your question. Now, it's easier for me to keep a straight face and sleep at night than, say, a While House Press Secretary in the Bush Administration, but I sent maybe 10 e-mails today that groveled about things that I actually have no control over, and it got to me.
Maybe 8 years ago, I sent a note to a reporter apologizing for the inconvenience a scheduling issue was causing, and copied my colleagues and client to show how willing I was to take one for the team. My phone rang immediately, and my friend Teddi let me know I should always quality control my spell check, because I had apologized for the incontinence. "Do you know what 'incontinence' means?" Teddi asked (Yes. Can I spell it? No.).
I usually tell this story (and of course I tell this story) in a different context, but tonight I am trying to remember: I am not my job. This is not a difficult concept for most people, but I assume they have different issues, like chemical addictions and emotional codependence. Or incontinence.
I am NOT my job... does anyone else even have this problem?
Maybe 8 years ago, I sent a note to a reporter apologizing for the inconvenience a scheduling issue was causing, and copied my colleagues and client to show how willing I was to take one for the team. My phone rang immediately, and my friend Teddi let me know I should always quality control my spell check, because I had apologized for the incontinence. "Do you know what 'incontinence' means?" Teddi asked (Yes. Can I spell it? No.).
I usually tell this story (and of course I tell this story) in a different context, but tonight I am trying to remember: I am not my job. This is not a difficult concept for most people, but I assume they have different issues, like chemical addictions and emotional codependence. Or incontinence.
I am NOT my job... does anyone else even have this problem?
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