I popped open my inbox and among the flood of emails, I saw clarity in my daily subscription to Realty Times... it was an article called "Love and the Real Estate Agent by Jennifer Allan."  It made me sad.  Very sad.

In summary... 

• Rumor has it that real estate agents have a higher than normal divorce rate... it's no surprise since spouses/significant others need to accept that the love of his or her life is spending time alone with other people, sometimes in emotionally charged situations and that they will often appear to place these other people and their needs above the needs of the family.
• A real estate career can take over your life, physically, financially and emotionally. Physically, you will be Missing-in-Action frequently, often without notice. Financially, you may be dipping into the family nest-egg to keep your business afloat, without much to show for your efforts. Emotionally, oh my. The emotional havoc a new real estate career can wreak in your life can’t be overstated. 
• When you are building a new business, any business, you need to be fanatically obsessed with the success of that business. And, unfortunately, something will have to give. You simply can’t have it all and do any of it exceptionally well. That’s just a fact.
• If your family does not fully support your decision to sell real estate, you may have a big decision to make. Only you can make the best decision for your situation, but just know that without your family’s support, you will probably be miserable most of the time. And a miserable real estate agent won’t be a real estate agent for long.

The truth hurts. 

On those days when I look in the mirror and wonder what and who I'm looking at, I also wonder what and where the Realtor Road will take me.  To infinity and beyond I hope, but let's get real now.  It's so rewarding to be a part of the "home" process for my clients because home is something that's very near and dear to me.  I went to school at the University of Waterloo and was involved in the co-op program, which also meant that I was on the move every four months.  While it was a prestigious, highly coveted and experience rich program, I also felt that it shot me out at the end with a constant need for change and no real concept of home since I never stayed put for more than 16 weeks at a time.  Thus, it is my honour to help people aquire a (semi) permanent place in the world through real estate.

I won't lie... I've been on a real estate high for some time now and it's only recently where I've had more time to think and reflect that I've actually reflected on the time that has quickly slipped away.  It's almost like time has passed me by in some sense because previously I was there, today I am here and most of the the stuff in between is a blur.  When I think of the progression and growth of my real estate career, I'm very proud, but I'm also sad because it cost me so much to get here... I read the words in that silly Love and Real Estate article and they echod many things that have happened to me and probably many other Real Estate Agents out there too.  It's not comforting to know that this stuff is common for Realtors and I find absolutely no solice in knowing that I'm not alone in all of this.  I'm just not down with a higher than normal divorce rate... I'm not okay with not keeping my commitments to the people I love... I'm not looking forward to allowing my career to eat me up emotionally or physically... Jo is not in the business to become just another real estate tragedy!

I mean, making my clients happy makes me happy, but what if that happy isn't true happiness?  Can you really be "happy" for them if you have nothing in your own life to be happy about?  Hmmm... well as altruistic as I am, I think I need to set some clear and distictive boundaries.  If I ever get miserable, which I'll define as the point in my real estate career when I question my love for the business, my days become blurs, cancelling and being MIA becomes my norm, and the expectations my friends, family and loved ones have of me becomes so low that I might as well be dead, then maybe I'll have to reconsider this Realtor gig, yeah?

On the bright side, I'm not there yet.