Realizing What is Important to You

Realizing What Is Important to You…
Only Takes One Phone Call
By Krissy Brady

I am best known for my hectic schedule—long work days, hoards of paperwork, more e-mails than time to reply. It’s what a career is all about. Sometimes I am questioned: “Are you sure this is really what you want to do? Are you sure you’re not taking on too much?” Of course this is what I want to do, and of course I am taking on too much—why would I want it any other way? It seems, at least in my case recently, that it doesn’t matter how well I manage my work/social balance, I still end up with someone looking at me with their head tilted to the side in concern. I know it is meant to show good intentions, and to help me keep things in perspective, but it ends up making me feel isolated, as if my hectic lifestyle is wrong. I am looked at from a perspective that I cannot relate to, and choose not to. I have a balance that works for me, and I have nothing to apologize for, yet for some reason it is assumed that I should.
My personality has always been fast-paced—I always want to gain as much of an experience as I can from the opportunities I am given. I do not take my work lightly, but at the same time do not pressure myself to be perfect. I enjoy what I do, and the reason why I am able to work long hours is because my work feels natural to me.
As well as my writing, I enjoy contributing to the writing industry through a non-profit organization called the FREZE Artist Help Center, which helps artists/writers/musicians make the necessary connections to succeed. We had a fantastic phone conference recently, which has helped me to put my life into perspective more than any look of concern I have ever received.
Here we were: me in Ontario, Miko in Georgia, Erika in California, and Angela in New York, all talking about what was important to us: the artists accepted into the 2006 FREZE program, our families, our friends, and of course our very hectic work schedules. The conference call helped me to realize that I am not the only one who seemingly cares too much about the “starving artist” industry and the welfare of those in it, and that feelings of isolation were no longer an option—I really do belong.

About Krissy BradyKrissy Brady is a freelance writer residing in Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. She is the editor-in-chief of Brady Magazine, an online writer’s trade directory dedicated to putting writers on the map. Tidal Wave was released by Rain Publishing in 2006 This article is free to publish as long as it is kept completely in tact.