Compartmentalization

I don't think that I believe in compartmentalization.

Today I had a personal situation happen that caused me to feel emotionally upset in the middle of the workday. As a result, when I had an issue arise at work that usually wouldn't make me blink, I had a knee-jerk emotional reaction that first manifested as irritation followed by an intense bubble up of emotion. When I felt that bubble rising I recognized that this was not work related. Thankfully I was able to step back and give myself a few moments before tackling my work again. That respite (Heather, what does respite mean? *wink*) gave me a minute to assess myself and figure out what was really going on, and address it.

I view compartmentalization as the opposite of assessing and addressing. It's kind of like feeling that emotional bubble rise to the surface and immediately shoving it down inside and slamming the lid on it. Now I come from some good English stock, and we have propriety passed down through the bloodlines. So I'm not going to say that it's okay for someone to drag all their personal mess into the workplace. But I don't believe in the philosophy of "leave your problems at the front door." Sometimes things happen in life that strain the essence of our beings, and sometimes we even feel broken. I don't believe in forcing another human being to leave their brokenness at the door. I think that this attitude is just another evidence that our culture does not know how to deal in intimacy or grief. This "leave it at home" mentality does not enhance community, trust, or valuing one another. And honestly-- although we rarely stop to shove ourselves into this paradigm shift-- when it's all said and done, relationships are what matter in this life. When the fit hits the shan, the melange of things that we normally occupy our lives with vanishes and we become immediately and only concerned with our relationships.

Am I right or am I right?

P.S. Melange was totally my word of the day today.