The WorkLife Spirit

Business, workplace culture and work life integration are the topics of choice as I look back on 20 years of reporting as a broadcast journalist. But it wasn’t always like that. Beginning in local news didn’t afford me the opportunity to structure or choose what I covered. Worklife issues and personal transformation were nearly always trumped by the breaking chaotic news of the day. But it gave me an incredible education in human nature and insight into the profound resilience we muster up in times of crisis.

There is a depth that we go to out of shear necessity when faced with chaos. It might be spiritual in nature, a connection with our own divinity, a stillness within, or our own personal faith. All I know is that something emerges, and somehow we are able to go on. It was this resiliency that fed my worklife spirit.

As a news reporter, covering disaster has always been a component of my job. And it was that responsibility that lead to numerous experiences of a deeper spiritual nature as a human being. With every story, I felt a warehouse of compassion building up. The realness of what I did for a living and how it would profoundly impact my life really began in 1989 while covering the historic Avianca plane crash.

It was 1989 and I was a young reporter working for News 12 Long Island. While in the newsroom one night, a terrifying message came over the police radio. "747 down in Cove Neck," blared a deep voice with a Long Island twang. My heart raced and the adrenalin high was like no other I had experienced in my then short career as a broadcast journalist. It was a foggy night. An Avianca plane had run out of gas and crashed after two fly-overs at Kennedy Airport in New York.

Our coverage lead to a number of New York Emmy Awards. It was my first significant award.  But my greatest gift was a lesson in compassion. That night my cameraman was assisting the rescue teams with the light above his lens to come to the aid of those who survived. It was my first experience being surrounded by so many who had been killed, those who clinged to life, children who had lost parents. My heart was ripped open. I wanted desperately to help the victims; especially a little boy whose parents were killed. 

The tragedy changed my life forever. I engaged in a more meaningful and compassionate approach every time I headed out to cover a story. From the devastation of Hurricane Andrew to the events of 9/11. There were times of sadness, depressing outcomes to stories, tales of heart-wrenching abuse, and burnout; but somehow I always found meaning in my work. Telling the stories that needed to be told so we all could learn from them. Out of the chaos of the moment, always came transformation and grace in various forms.

Now, for the last decade, covering business and worklife culture have fueled my worklife spirit. It’s not as dramatic, but it is transformative in its own way. I wonder how many of us examine our worklife spirit, our passions, our livelihood and whether it’s meaningful to us? Does your work make your heart sing and it is aligned with your purpose and beliefs? If not – how do we change that equation?

For some worklife affirming guidance from true career and spiritual visionaries, check out The WorkLife Monitor Podcasts at JudyMartinSpeaks.com