Today at work (I work as a layout designer for a newspaper) we were late getting a section in and I was the one speeding to finish it. This new writer suddenly decided that she has the authority to tell me what to do and starts demanding that I change the photos in the layout. The executive editor and the lifestyles editor both came over and we all started arguing. The new writer is basically criticizing my skills and at one point says "It's a bad layout." I don't think anyone else heard her because we were all talking at once, but I cannot believe she had the gall to say that! I thought I had been pretty nice to her, and I've never said anything bad about her writing. The executive editor eventually just made the decision to send it to print as is.

Normally, being under so much stress combined with being put down (even by someone who doesn't matter) would make me want to binge for comfort. But not this time.

After everyone else had walked away, I told the executive editor that I might need to go for a drive for a few minutes. She saw the tears welling up in my eyes and said to go, she would take care of sending the pages to print. So as soon as I got out the door I started crying. I got in my car and drove around for maybe 5-10 minutes. I could have stopped at a convenience store and binged. But I didn't. I told myself to pull it together and headed back.

Later, the executive editor texted me and told me that the writer had been spoken to and I made the right choice with the layout. The writer apologized before she left, so that was nice, even though she only did it because she got in trouble.

Resisting the urge to binge was totally worth it because I ended up being vindicated! A binge would have been for nothing. Even though I'm still angry about it and feel insulted, I'm soothed by the fact that I didn't do anything wrong. And that's enough.

Okay, rant over.