“Excuse Me, Doctor, can I speak to you for a moment?” One of the other attending physicians asked me while I was visiting a patient of mine in the ICU this afternoon. Since I was the consulting endocrinologist working the hospital floors this week, I assumed he wanted to discuss the particulars of this case with me. Instead, once I excused myself and we were both out of earshot of the patient, he smiled at me and said, “I have a close friend who is an avid runner and blogger and he told me to say hi to the ‘Running Laminator’. I assume that is you, is it not?” I waited a while before confirming his suspicions with a sheepish nod. And with that, after thirteen months of anonymity within the walls of this hospital, my secret identity outside of the professional workplace was revealed.
To be honest, I fully prepared that I’d be ‘discovered’ one day. After all, in today’s cosmopolitan society where we are more closely tied to our e-mail addresses than our real addresses and everyone we work and associate with seem to have some connection to everyone else, it is impossible to maintain a virtual identity that is distinct and separate from the real-life counterpart for any length of time. (Didn’t someone famous once say that ‘you can fool all people some of the time, and some people all of the time, but you can’t fool all people all the time?) I just didn’t expect to be so blatantly exposed while I was on the job, in the middle of the pediatric intensive care unit!
It’s been a full twelve hours now, but I still haven’t figured out the proper reaction to this latest development. Am I supposed to be relieved now that the news is out and I no longer have to purposely hide the fact that I’m a decent runner and blogger from all my workmates or should I be frightened that I’m now more transparent to those that work with me than I’ve ever been? Should I be more cautious in my postings about what I see and what I do so as not to be politically or professionally ”incorrect” or should I keep my integrity as a responsible blogger and just write what feels right, to me?
I think I’m starting to feel a bit intimidated that my virtual ‘me’ has become somewhat more successful and more infamous than the real ‘me’. It is crazy to think that more people know of me as a running blogger with a hospital gig on the side than a professional kid’s doctor with a crazy running blog on the side. How weird is that?! I think I’ll need more than one long run this week to figure things out.
10 comments:
If you help at least as many kids for the number of runs you go on (which I'm sure you've helped more)...I wouldn't say your blogging is more well known than your actual self. Yes, I am aware that was cheesy.
That being said, I'd probably be unsure as well if someone from work found my blog in some way. Enjoy your long run, Dr. Lam!
So who outed you? lol I always wanted to be a detective.
Good luck figuring out your blogging future. ;)
I often wonder what I'd do if my "secret blog identity" got outed to those who don't know about it...I'm very careful to keep my full name off my blog so it wont show up in a google search, and I try to be vague about certain things...but I have a feeling it's only a matter of time before someone has loose lips and my worlds collide...
A select few people at my workplace know I have blogs. My family knows about my blogs. I don't have my full name on my blog but it doesn't take much of a brain to figure it out given what I have written on my blog. That said, it was still quite bizarre for me to be recognized on the street by a random person who reads my blog.
I am not totally anonymous and therefore I don't write about anything especially sensitive and I never write about work. I want to keep my nose clean.
I'm guessing that you truly are more famous professionally (not to diss either your running or your blog). :D I don't see that you have done anything here that anyone would take exception to either, the clinical posts are my favorites. Having said that, I do have an idea how you are feeling. I have to remember that my boss occasionally reads mine!!
Oh, man, and remember a few months ago how you were running everyone down that you work with on this blog? Some of those names were very, very dirty and can't be repeated.
Good luck explaining all of that.
Just kidding. (wink, wink)
Wouldn't quite say that your virtual running blogger self is more/less successful than being a pediatrician. Ya kinda had to work hard to get at both, no?
I've been aware that I would be outed pretty quickly so I've always just assumed everyone knows about my blog and while it does inhibit what I say at times it is also refreshing in a way.
You've been outed! I wish I could be the avid runner friend...unfortunately, despite the world of electronic medical files, our paths have not crossed...yet. :)
I don't give my blog URL to anyone I know in real life. My mom knows about it, but I've explained to her that I don't want her to read it b/c then I'll feel censored to some extent. Almost no one in my "real life" knows about my blog, and I'd like to keep it that way. However, I'm fairly careful with what I write, so that even if I were "discovered," I would be maybe a little shy, but not mortified. Hope that makes sense!
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