As corporate sisters trying to make it in the corporate jungle, we may at times be over-invested in our careers. As we try to make a difference and carve paths where few of us have tread, we may tend to take work with us wherever we go. It’s in our thoughts, all over our words, even in the way we interact with each other…
Many times, we are unable to just leave work at work. We feel that there is too much to do, too much to prove, maybe too much to fear? We store good and bad experiences alike in some cozy corner of our minds, playing and re-playing, over and over again, the victories and mishaps of the day. In the mirrors of our overcrowded psyches, molehills are turned into professional mountains, seemingly insurmountable, just as our stress levels peak higher and higher…
Here we are, at 10pm, fretting over our Blackberrys attempting to resolve issues that are better handled with calm first thing in the morning. Or over-extending ourselves in ways that are detrimental to our health, and ultimately to our careers. Or yet again, setting up patterns and expectations that we may not be able to satisfy in the long run.
Yes, it is certainly important to go above and beyond in our careers. And we can certainly agree that excelling at one’s job does require a certain measure of dedication and commitment. However, failing to balance out the different areas of our lives is a sure deterrent to our professional advancement.
One of the most precious pieces of advice my dear mother, herself a veteran of the corporate sisterhood, once told me, was this: “As a woman, and as a professional Black woman, the world will not be kind to you. But you’ve always got to remember to drop your career at the doorstep before you come home. You can always pick it up in the morning.”

Do you leave work at work?

The Corporate Sister.