Personal Crises In the Midst of Interview Mayhem

I've worked a couple of interesting jobs, right? I've been a waitress, a camera-woman, a sales associate, (most recently) a staff writer for TNH, and various other volunteery things.

If there's anything I've learned from these experiences, it's that keeping emotions in check is a pretty important aspect of a job. You know, people want professionalism. I do, too. It's a lot harder to do than I thought it would be.

My first job as waitress, I was recently hired when my grandfather died, my boyfriend and I were in the pre-break up stage, and my mother was going through radiation treatments for breast cancer. You could say I tried to hold back a few tears when I was waiting for the bartender to give me my order so I could serve my tables.

You could also say I've had a few nights of no-way-do-I-want-to-be-here-syndrome.

It's a little different as a journalist, I'm learning.

This morning I was dealing with a bit of a personal crisis. I didn't know about my health status. I had to set up a doctor's appointment -- with the idea in my head that I have a week's worth of interviews and research to do -- and not a lot to go on for those.

I was in one of those let's-just-panic-and-not-schedule-interview moods. It hasn't happened before. It was a little frightening. I mean, come on, of course I still did what I had to. I called people, I even walked around looking for sources.

For some reason, it's just different with interviews. In retail or as a waitress or my volunteer places, it's more structured. I know when the job starts and when it ends. Journalism doesn't really have either, does it? That's what makes it hard. And at other jobs, you can mope around with your friends and fake it for customers, but that one-on-one interview with no friends around...it's a different kind of challenge.

So I can go into panic mode if I really want to, but then I can't function. In journalism, I have to revolve my life around interviews. There is no start and end to the day, really. I've emailed people at 10 P.M. on a weekend and they've responded within the hour to set something up.

I guess this rant is simply to highlight that crises don't take a break just because I have tons of other stuff to do. And I'm okay, journalism is pretty sweet even when I'm not feelin' it, and the world keeps turnin'.  Learnin' new things everyday!