Do what makes you feel whole and happy.

In “Striking a balance”:http://www.36-degrees.co.uk/index.php?subactio…, Stuart Frisby poses the question:

Can Joe blog & make a living through one site? Or is it necessary to completely sever all ties between the two?

I’ve been pondering the same thing for quite a while. For much of the time I lived in Atlanta and Boston, different elements of my life remained segmented quite rigidly from each other. My business persona focused on appearing like an agency (opposed to my reality as a one-person shop); I kept my regular blog and Body-for-Life blog on separate hosts, and often my real life friends and co-workers didn’t know much about my other interests.

It’s a terrible way to live. One has to maintain appearances on several fronts simultaneously. I think it came from a level of fundamental doubt about my ability to succeed, so I kept each part of my life well compartmentalized and hidden from the other parts; if one part failed spectacularly, it wouldn’t affect (so much) the other parts of my life.

In the past year or so, however, my patience for such a lifestyle has been nonexistant. There’s no sense in trying to maintain multiple identities, multiple personalities. My answer to Stuart’s question?

Do what makes you feel whole and happy. Do otherwise and you’ll burn out quickly. If you want to fuse yourself with your work, do that. It might be harder to find work initially, but I believe you’ll be far more satisfied with your results.