When I was working a “traditional job”, it was quite easy to keep my personal life and work life separate. (As in I kept them as separate as possible.) Now, I’m stepping into positions, roles, and growing the Asian American Literary Collective as an organization, the separation of personal life and work have become blurred. My Facebook messages (and text messages) have become a mish mash of work, friends, friends I work with, and co-workers I’m friends with.
This is awesome because it means I’m allowed to open up, be my full self, and reach my potential.
At the same time, this is raising the problem of how to “shut it down” when Facebook (and texting) is both work and social. (Texting is a little worse because my texting app doesn’t let me “mark as unread”.)
When I’m trying to rest, seemingly harmless conversations slip into topics closer to “work” too easily. A lot of times it’s even my fault!
Here are some solutions I’ve come up with so far:
- Not using Facebook as a “rest” website.
- Being more okay with leaving texts on unread
- My “rest” should not be on a screen
- Going for a walk
- Doing some stretches / exercises
- Taking a 10 minute nap / meditating
- Doing a quick journal session for an emotional check in
Have other people run into this too? Anyone else have any other ideas or suggestions?