Just be okay, OK?

My mum called me up a while back and told me I needed to watch a TV show that she was hooked on. She was laughing as she was telling me.

"Emmy, she's just like you," she said. "You'll love it."

The show she was talking about was "New Girl." The pilot episode opens with Jessica Day, played by actress Zooey Deschanel, moving into a new apartment where she proceeds to watch "Dirty Dancing" on repeat while hysterically crying.

Yup. Thanks Mum. I get it.

Mum wasn't wrong, though. Jessica Day and I have a lot in common. While I don't have three male roommates helping me navigate through my shenanigans, I have certainly been through my fair share of emotional break-ups ... and blubbered, loudly, mimicking Johnny Castle's and Baby Houseman's lines.

I was reminded of that comparison again this week when Johnny and Baby joined me ... some five or so times on Thursday. Instead of a dead relationship to grieve, this week it felt like I was grieving the end of a job, and the company I worked for.

In the days that have passed, many of the faces behind the stories I've worked so hard to share have reemerged to offer up support in various forms - texts, calls, emails and multiple endorsements on my abilities. I know I shouldn't be surprised that people care, but like, people really care. Yes, I know how that sounds.

I guess it's not something I really thought about. I know I've met a lot of people throughout my career and travels, but I never really expected that people would go out of their way to speak on my behalf or try to find me work. It's only been a few days of not working, but it's already turned into a period of reflection. I think I was burned out. I don't think that I actually put enough effort into spending time with myself. And as much as I've experienced so much with this career, there are a lot of things I've wanted to do that have been put on the back burner. So like my TV alter-persona, Jessica Day, I'm going to do those things I've wanted to do. I'm going to finish sanding my desk and repaint it. I'm going to read the endings to the seven different books I have started and never finished. There are plenty of items to check off the list, but unlike the deadline-driven life of a journalist, I'm going to give myself time. Because that's what most of us aren't short of these days; time.

So, in taking the advice shared with me from a friend "across the pond" that shares the same surname as I do, I'll keep repeating the same thing to myself until I accept it: Just be okay, OK?