A
female
age
36-40,
anonymous
writes:Recently I graduated with a journalism degree where I excelled to the top of my class! I never wanted to be a newspaper reporter and have no real interest in breaking hard news, but I wanted to gain a qualification that would lead to a more interesting job than mind-numbing office work!Problem is, after doing so well, everyone's steering me down the journalism path. "Why don't you want to be a reporter when you're so good at it?" .. people continuously ask me. While I'm a good writer and I LOVE writing about people and raising awareness about issues etc, there's SO much more to being a reporter than meets the eye. It's a lifestyle choice, filled with LOOONG gruelling hours, stuck writing about things you have no passion for. I know you have to work hard to get to where you want to be, but I can't see myself heading down that path at all! It just feels like this LOONG dark tunnel of constant pressure and panic attacks! I've never been the best at exams i.e. working under extreme pressure. When I think of being a reporter, all I see in my future is the odd scheduled hours, the night shifts and the constant griping from editors - not to mention the deadlines. During my study, deadlines were ALL I THOUGHT ABOUT and I was unable to ever relax and enjoy anything else. I don't miss that.Despite making regular front page news, while I worked in a newsroom during my internship, I completely flaked under the pressure. Surrounded by reporters everywhere - yelling and talking loudly to each other.. the sound of people tapping away on their keyboards etc.. I was as stiff as a board. I couldn't THINK of the words because I couldn't hear myself THINK. My tutors just told me to "get over it"! The front page stories I made during that time, I would write at home BEFORE I started my shift in the newsroom. I'd then pretend I wrote them while at work because I was too afraid anyone would realise I couldn't work in a full room of people! I realised I couldn't write creative stories stuck in a stuffy cubicle with a bunch of people stressing and swearing. I had to have quiet and solitude to get ANYTHING on paper.While I was a student, I realised I had a knack for pitching my own story ideas and what I WANTED to write about turned out to be what other people wanted to read. Not neccessarily breaking news, which I've never been passionate about, but stories about people themselves i.e. their struggles, their passions, their fears etc. What I would love to do is start my own freelancing firm, where I can write about what moves ME. Does it seem a rediculous idea to consider something like that when I've only been a student? Do you think the fact that I'm afraid of losing the work/life balance and not wanting to spend my life tied to a newsroom means I lack ambition? The most important thing in my life is the things I do in my spare time - my holidays, my hobbies, the time with my partner etc. I see a fulltime job in a newsroom as potentially taking away so much of the things I love! I believe those are the things we LIVE for. I'm a strong believer that we should work to LIVE, not the other way around.Am I just nieve for believing that? Am I turning my back on what could be a really great career for me?Do my ideas seem childish and impractical?
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Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
reader, anonymous, writes (10 January 2011): I understand what you're going through. My major (hospitality and tourism management) is all about long hours, working weekends, working late, working holidays, etc., etc., even when you become a manager! It's a career for people who don't want/have a life or, like you put it, LIVE to WORK. I personally think it's a horrible way to live your life but there are people who are fulfilled doing that.
Currently, I'm not working anywhere near that career path, but I did learn that if you want to be successful, you sometimes have to trudge through the crap in order to get valuable experience. Before, it was enough to have a degree in order to have a great job. Nowadays, it's the minimum for an entry level position. I only say this because you do want to start your own firm and you might want to conquer your anxiety of deadlines, noisy people, dealing with people, and doing stuff that you don't really like to do. Sometimes it's just part of life.
It's great that you understand so early in life what motivates you and what you want out of life. Fortunately, as someone else posted before me, there are many other paths you can take in order to get that experience without having to become a reporter and having your life wrung out of you. I think now is a great time to explore and use that experience to build a great firm.
Good luck!
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