Taking on New Adventures

Too often in the news world, the people covering the story, especially those on the road covering it where the story is happening, become experts…. at compartmentalization. Over the years, I’ve found it’s a tool that I use both in work life, regardless of what I’m doing, as well as personal life. It’s not always easy, but oftentimes it’s necessary to be able to separate whatever is happening in one aspect of your life to the rest.

But this is different. For the first time in a long time, it affects both my work and personal life. And there is no running away from it. There’s no trip you can take to get away, there’s no food, drink or fun event that you can do to take your mind off of it and there is no logging into your personal social media to get your mind off it with the craziness that is social media. It’s an unsettling place to be because the way I’ve survived this long in the work world, which is mostly my media career, is through the “separation of church and state” that I employed in my head and life for years prior to 2020.

As we navigate the next few weeks, it’s going to be a test of our mental strength more than anything. Everyone in the world is faced with this illness and while a large majority will survive, the unknown is what is causing so much fear. And with fear comes panic. The toilet paper flying off the shelves? From people who are panicked. It’s my belief the panic is because of the unknown. I have opinions on our leadership, both federal and state, as well as our business leaders for the companies I deal with but also overall. And I do think some of this could be curbed.

But with the panic is the opposite: pure ignorance. Because of the environment we live in, so many people are hesitant to believe anything reported on the news. That’s sad. And scary. If you cannot rely on the news business to tell you what’s going on, then who do you rely on? It’s a rhetorical question, at least for purposes of this blog, as I’m trying to keep the peace with everyone I know but honestly, it drives me completely crazy.

This pandemic should have a response in the middle. Based on everything I’ve been told, and I’m in the epicenter of the original outbreak, we do need to be scared but also need to be honest with ourselves. There are many people who will carry the virus and never show symptoms. But we also need to be cautious around people who may be at risk. And even if we’re fine, still stay clear for a bit from people who could get seriously ill from this.

But where do I turn to get away from it, even for a few hours? There is no place right now. And that’s where this is going to be hard. There is no moment to “turn off” the story and do something else. So it’s a new world for me in so many different ways.

Which brings me to what I am trying to do: Enjoy the new experiences I’m getting from being in the Seattle area, taking advantage of getting to know new people, strengthening relationships with people I’ve known for a really long time and making the most of the opportunity I’ve been given to tell the story and tell it honestly.

So regardless of whether I’m in Seattle, home in New Orleans or some other city they dispatch me to, you can bet I’ll do what I can to help out the local businesses, check out as much of the city as I possibly can and dive into a good book that has absolutely nothing to do with real life. That will be by opportunity to take a break and regroup for the next phase of this story, and my life.