Bad Beds

http://www.buzzfeed.com/carolynkylstra/skin-cancer-treatment

“If anyone needs a little motivation to not lay in the tanning bed and sun here ya go! This is what skin cancer treatment can look like. Wear sunscreen and get a spray tan. You only get one skin and you should take care of it. Learn from other people’s mistakes. Don’t let tanning prevent you from seeing your children grow up. That’s my biggest fear now that I have a two year old little boy of my own.”

Those are the words of Tawny Willoughby, a 27-year-old woman facing skin cancer treatments after using tanning beds regularly as a teenager.

I actually used tanning beds a few times, back when I was just starting out in the TV news business. I thought it would make me look better on-air. Maybe it did…but I regret doing it, even those half-dozen times or so. I’ve been trying to embrace my paleness a lot more these days. 🙂

Reading Tawny’s story and seeing the Facebook photo she posted after her treatment (warning: it’s not for the faint of heart) made me want to share this post today. I’ve had numerous moles removed from my skin the past 3-4 years. Not exactly enjoyable.

Two of the moles were found to be dysplastic nevi, which aren’t cancerous, but are ones that could have become that way in time. Who knows if the tanning beds contributed to that, but I’m sure they didn’t help.

Basically, I just want to echo Tawny’s advice. Please, don’t take any chances with your skin…and definitely don’t use tanning beds.

Have a great day.

Top 10 Most Stressful Jobs of 2011

Is your job stressing you out? Well, it could be worse. Take a look at this list.

I think it’s funny that the three types of positions I’ve held since college all fall in the top five. 2, 4, 5…yep, I guess it’s been that kind of a career for me 😉

I’ve seen plenty of stressful days as a PR guy and a TV news guy. Both are go, go, go kind of jobs and carry their fair share of responsibilities. Both involve a lot of deadlines, a lot of pressure, and both are rather high-profile positions with not a lot of room for error when it comes to presenting and managing information.

That being said I think it’s somewhat of a stretch to include them in this list. I mean come on. Handling PR for an agency or elected official and broadcasting the news…yes they’re stressful gigs but I find it a bit hard to believe that these positions are among the ‘most stressful jobs’ in the world.

Positions where people’s lives are at stake I could understand. The list mentions EMTs. I can totally see that. I’d be stressed to the max if I was an EMT. That’s life or death stuff.

Airline pilots came in at number one on the list. Yep, carrying hundreds of people in a flying tube that is hurtling through the sky with everyone’s livelihood riding on your training and abilities…that’s some real stress right there.

Organ transplant surgeons, hostage situation negotiators, personal security detail agents, prison guards – all of those seem like infinitely more stressful positions than the ones I’ve held in my life that made the ‘Top 10′ list. Having others’ lives – or your own – depending on your job performance is how I would define a stressful job. (I’ll make an exception for the journalists and PR folks who are directly in harm’s way. Those positions do exist, I’m aware.)

But I digress. Whatever your job is, I hope it’s relatively stress-free and I suggest that you have a system in place for dealing with that stress when it does arise.

One thing to remember: No matter what the stress level of your job may be, these days it’s a blessing just to have a job. Simply being employed is a good thing, folks. A little stress on the job certainly beats not having one as far as I’m concerned.