It’s all about balance.

This is related to several conversations I’ve had with people recently about what we do on the site.  Helping people is a good thing.  It’s undeniably a good thing.  When you know you’ve stopped someone from sending money to a scammer, it warms the heart.  However, it’s also incredibly hard to do.  We speak to people on a daily basis who are scared, confused, even suicidal.  None of us have training for that, and even if we did it would still take a toll on a person.  Now add in the writing to scammers, reporting scammers, checking all the posts and forms.  It’s hard.  It can seriously leave a person burned out.  So what do we do?  For many of us, this is our life.  We spend every spare moment we have doing this.  We have to find a balance.  A balance between serious and funny, between the online world and real life, between helping people and helping ourselves.  Sometimes we need to remember that we matter as much as the people we help on our site.  Sometimes we need to stop, take a breath and enjoy life.  It’s short enough as it is.  We need to make the most of it.  If that means speaking to less scammers, spending less time on the forum or simply taking some time out to enjoy a movie, then that’s what we need to do.  Most of us find that balance.  For some it takes longer than others, but we all find it eventually.