For those who've left: any regrets?

And for some, that's perfectly fine. Who are you to tell someone how to live their life and what choices to make? God?

 

I have very fond memories of my newspaper days. But I have zero regrets about leaving. That's because most - if not all - of my fond memories are from a newspaper industry that no longer exists.

And I stick around because I've made several friends here - even if I don't know their real names.

 

Question: How do you give up the dream? I've wanted to be a sports columnist my whole life. I moved up the ladder pretty quickly, but haven't gotten that shot yet. It will be very hard to exit the profession having never achieved that goal. I can't shake that.

 

Eat a bag of dicks.

You asked why I was still around if I'm not in the business any more. I gave you a reason. You took a fucking personal shot when you don't know a goddamn thing about me or my writing/reporting abilities. I was plenty fucking "cut out for it."

Pound sand.

 

What's stopping you from being a columnist now?

 

I don't regret having been in the business. It shaped much of my life, and was/is who I am.

But I know what you mean in saying that, in hindsight, because, now, I see the opportunities elsewhere that I may now miss out on. I don't think I will miss out, as I'm on my way toward achieving some new, good things in a different career. But I could, possibly, primarily because of age/energy related factors.

Opportunity is so much about timing. There is a time and a season for everything, and now, because I'm out of newspapers, I realize that it would have been exciting to see how far I could go -- and I do think I could, or would have, gone farther/higher -- had I been younger when I started doing what I'm doing now. So, I wish I would have been out, and begun this, about 10 or 12 years sooner.

But that's perspective talking, not regret or unhappiness over my former career per se.

 

Sometimes, unfortunately, you don't reach every goal. I'd tell you to know that you've done a lot of good work, and to take great pride in that, and just move on and leave it at that. If you do your best, well, then, perhaps you're meant for something different. Maybe even something better that you can't even see or think of right now because you don't have that perspective.

There are seasons in life. Find and embrace a new goal. You might achieve that one, more quickly than you might have thought possible. That's what I've done. Sometimes, there isn't much choice, and that's that's all you can do. Think of it as another, the next, chapter in your life, and make it just as good as the previous one.

The chapters get easier to write once you actually start doing it, instead of agonizing over whether, and when, to let go. Sometimes, life just happens, and you should let it.

 

I do wish I'd gotten out 10-15 years earlier, if only for the fact that my ceiling here is going to be somewhat dictated by being inside a decade to retirement. And I really like what I'm doing, and want to pick up more and more responsibilities in it.

Also, there's the fact that I had more fun in my earlier years of newspapering than my later years.

 

That wasn't personal. That was an observation based on your own reply. You're over-reacting. How would I know if you weren't cut out for it? I said it sounded like one of two things, you miss it or you weren't cut out for it. Either way, it still sounds like regret, except now it sounds like regret and disappointment. Which, based on most of these responses, is a common theme for people no longer in this business but more than willing to tell people who work in it how shitty their career choice is.

BTW, I think I'll pass on the bag of dicks. But thanks for the offer.

 

You really need to stop making assumptions. There is no regret. The disappointment is in how the newspaper industry evolved to a point where it was no longer a tenable choice for a long-range career. Everybody is in a different situation. It would have been a shitty career choice for me to stick around. It may be the right choice for you.

 

I guess Doc just wasn't cut out for a bag of dicks.

 

You've steered me in what I hope to be the right direction. Although Young Me never grew up dreaming of being Lewis Grizzard from the Department of Safety, Older Me would take the steady paycheck and benefits and stability of the job over the volatility, angst and stress of 21st-century 'journalism'.