it's not the night that cleanses your soul

i'm out! out of reservist and back to work in about 7 hours time.

what a massive three weeks it's been, literally unplugging myself from Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, Blogging and the like.

and you know what? it was good. there's more to life than social media.

i think i got lost somewhere along the way after being hired to do public relations around social media. i think i had overburdened myself somewhere along the way with trying to do too many things at once, trying to add a large number of tools at my disposal so that i could reach out to influencers.

but they're just tools. at heart, it's not the constant state of being 'plugged in' that keeps me in touch with the bloggers i've met. nope, rather it's the friendships and interactions with them that make this part of the job worthwhile. i've gotten to know more people, and it's not just inviting bloggers and journalists to make up numbers, but getting to know them, what their interests are, and what their publication's interests are.

i'm also not saying that that it's because of relationships that i do more job, i think as professionals, it's important to do a professional job that is somewhat devoid of pulling favours from your contacts, but letting your outreach and events speak for themselves. that way, no one's keeping score, and no one should need to feel awkward in a social media situation -)

being away from media has also started me thinking about a lot of other things, namely the balance between work, life, hobbies and spiritual health. i've come back to the corporate world, hopefully with more zeal, excitement and perspective. the things that are important to me, and the things i can let go off.