Would You Sacrifice Love For Business?

I outed myself today as an avid watcher of the ABC series, The Bachelorette when I announced the newest addition to my Mom’s Talk Network blogs, Family TV Addicts.

Yes, I am a television addict.  That probably shocks a lot of people who are always asking me how I have time to do everything I do and it should confirm once and for all that I don’t do all that I do   (Outsourcing is a lovely thing.)

Actually, I watch a lot of television while I work.  Remember the evil Mac from my home office heaven post?  It’s primarily used as a TV.  (Yep, that’s Hulu.com on the screen.)

There are a lot of things that I do that requires focused attention but there are also a lot of things I do that can be done with a favorite program running on the side – and I have a lot of favorite programs – The Bachelorette being one of them.

So I know you probably couldn’t care less about my TV addiction or that I’m hooked on keeping up with Jillian’s current attempts at finding love, but I do have a topic that I want to pull from the program and that is issue of Ed.

Ed is a tall handsome man from Monroe, Michigan.  He was definitely finding favor with Jillian – but in episode five he shocked us all by telling her that he had to bow out of the program and head home to take care of work.  (His career is listed as ‘Technology Consultant’ and he mentioned talking with ‘his boss’ so he isn’t a solopreneur.)

I have often wondered how these adults manage to walk away from their real lives for such a long time in order to participate in a reality TV show.  Surely they earn something for their participation, but there has to be a pretty bit sacrifice involved.

When Ed told Jillian he had to go home, a part of me totally understood.  Sometimes our work is in a place that requires a lot of our attention. Hopefully not all the time, that would suck.

Jillian was visibly heartbroken and said it was obvious that Ed’s priorities were in a different place than hers.  She talked about risk. She was taking a big risk doing the show so she certainly knows a lot about it.

Love is a risk.  Taking time away from a career is a risk.

I don’t envy his decision at all, how about you?

Have you been faced with a choice like this?  Devoting time to a budding new relationship vs devoting time to growing your business?  Would you put love on hold or even say goodbye to it just to get more work done?

I can’t help but think that Ed was making a big mistake.   But who knows?  We all have to make daily decisions about what we give our time and attention to.

Fast forward to episode number seven.  Believe it or not, Ed came back and asked Jillian to let him back into the group.  He regretted his choice and wanted another chance.  When he walked through the door I think my heart thrilled just as much as Jillian’s, it was so sweet and vulnerable for him to come back and take that risk.  She could say no and leave him looking like a fool on TV.

But she didn’t.

I don’t know if Jillian will choose Ed in the end.  I’m sure she has some tough questions for him about his career goals and priorities.

Of course, I’ll be watching

(And rooting for Ed.)