Real life, real jobs

As I was watching "Privileged" tonight, I was reminded of myself.
Cute, well-dressed girls with glossy hair going to fabulous parties on yachts. That is so me!

O.K. maybe not. But this line (about the tutor, not the glamorous girls) "I know you're one of those must-be-the-best-at-everything-she-does girls, but don't let your job get in the way of your real life" could be about me.

I'm always confusing my job for my life. In fact I'm not sure what my real life would be without my job. What if your job becomes your life?

I imagine I'm not the only one pondering this question since there's no shortage of television lines devoted to the subject. (Remember in "Sex and the City" when Carrie yells at Miranda, "my column isn't who I am, it's what I do.")

Maybe it's especially difficult to compartmentalize your job when it's creative, maybe it's due to working long hours, maybe it's not having enough other interests (probably due to the long hours).

I'm not sure exactly the reason, but lots of my friends and I seem to be allowing our jobs to run our lives. Certainly the gloomy news about the newspaper industry is hard for all my journalist friends. It seems everyone I talk to is waiting for "the other shoe to drop" or "the last straw."

What can we do? I guess we can stop obsessing. We can try to spend more time thinking about our lives. We can also try to leave our work problems at the office.

I guess at the very least we can watch more TV. That always helps me take my mind off my job (and my life).