After finishing up a late night of packing I was on my way back to TX. I flew my best friend, Joe, up to help me make the trip back. We ended up making it back in a little over 22 hours and without any wrecks, car trouble or tickets!!! In my book, I consider that a success.

Tonight I go to bed officially back in TX and, in my mind, home. I was definitely filled with a whole series of emotions as I shut the door and closed the lock to the moving trailer and locked up the house in PA one last time on Friday.  So many things happened in these last two years and, in a nutshell, I really believe I can attribute much of the last two years to truly “finding” myself.

There are so many things I learned both professionally and personally over the course of my time spent living in PA, and in some ways the move back here to TX is a whole new chapter. It’s a chance to further grow as an entrepreneur, expand our business, a fresh start in new relationships and a move to do what I know is best regarding family and friends.

Often, when writing for this blog, I find myself searching for the blend of ways to provide value and insight into the professional and personal sides of my life. As I was thinking about different points to include in this post, an interesting discussion occurred when I was giving a couple guest lectures at Temple University. A student asked me if “as an entrepreneur and business owner, my (personal and professional) lives ever seem to blend together?” My answer was yes, and initially I felt somewhat guilty, but nonetheless, honest. Now that I think about it, how can they not? I truly love and am extremely passionate about what I do and what Spych represents. I pour hours of hard work into making it successful and no matter how much you strive to separate work and personal life, for me it is somewhat impossible. But is that really a bad thing?

I had a really great conversation with Carla Blumenthal tonight about this topic as well. Carla and I talked about a few different things that really made me think further about what I planned on writing in this post. I have been blessed to work with some really great people, whether they are clients of Spych, other AMA Board members or other research colleagues. I guess, because of this, I tend to find the direct line between work and personal life a bit blurred. Sure, I have friends who are not at all related to my work (mainly my closest ones) and others who I purely consider work-related. But, why have we started to insist and force such a dichotomy between work and personal life? If you love what you do and are passionate about doing it, then how and why do we set that completely aside? In theory, I know when people talk about work vs. personal we do not rule out having friends that live in both spaces, but I feel like we may tend to associate a little too much importance in completely separating the two.

Another thing Carla and I spoke about that directly related to an issue I wanted to address in this post is personal community. Rather than focusing on trying to delineate a separation between my work and personal life, the past two years have helped me to recognize and establish my personal community. Those who I interact with on a consistent basis, reach out to for advice, or just to lend an ear, shoulder or hand. Carla asked if my crazy travel schedule impacted the ability to maintain a close personal community. Truthfully, it did, but maybe not only as you would initially expect. Yes, it was difficult to maintain all of the different friendships and regular communications I had when living in TX and traveling less. But, on the other hand, it really helped me to mature, enrich and increasingly value the relationships I have with those in my close inner circle. To that point, as I mentioned earlier, moving back to TX represents a few different things.

On the personal front, I wanted the opportunity to spend more time with my family and close friends. Some of you know the battle my dad is fighting with cancer and I knew in my heart that it was the right time to come back and try to be around my mom and dad when I am not on the road.

On the business front, Spych is rapidly gaining traction in the DFW area and it made sense to establish it here when we launched it as its own company from its initially life as a division of DGA. When I am not on the road for research or speaking at conferences, I have the benefit of being able to work remote and from home. This helps with the ability to spend some time around my dad.

To truly fulfill my responsibilities on the Board for the DFW AMA , and to do what it takes to provide a true value to the students, it requires me to spend more time with all of my collegiate representatives and act as a liaison and source of help. Being back in TX is key in allowing me to help them, which is a huge passion of mine.

With all signs pointing back to the Lone Star State, I’m back. I am ready to see what the next years offer and spend time back in the place I call home. I know continual change will come my way, but I am excited to not know exactly what is around the corner and look forward to taking the passion I have for my work and working toward taking Spych to new levels. When you take a close look at all three of those points, again it shows the influence my work and personal lives have on each other. By no means do I suggest sending e-mails out on dates, or bringing your laptop on vacation, and I recognize the situations in which work must maintain a clear separation. But where do we really need to draw a distinction? It’s a personal choice and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Great to be home!