Getting back in the biz

Totally agree with Xan. You'll never get the satisfaction you seek.

 

Having gone through a tough, not-exactly-voluntary exit from the industry myself, what resonates with me isn't so much any sense of "I'll show them," or even any competitive desire or perfectionistic tendencies on Rhody's part.

Those may be there, sure. But really, I think that, more than anything, there's a need for closure on Rhody's own terms. I'm familiar with and can recognize this need, and it really doesn't go away to any extent until you've made peace.

I also think that as soon as he gets another newspaper/media job, Rhody's entire perspective may change.

And he will find that he no longer has a driving need to do this work any longer. He may realize, after not too long, that he doesn't really even want to do it anymore.

 

One last thing, and then I'm done. Because I think Rhody has gotten plenty of advice.

People I haven't seen for awhile invariably ask me how it's going there. And I invariably tell them, "As long as I don't look past the end of my computer screen, it's a pretty nice existence." And it is. And it's all print.

I don't know for sure, and it's probably pretty mean to suggest it. But I think some of the warning advice comes from a place of wanting to convince oneself that they're better off without the job they once enjoyed.

 

It's not "mean" to suggest that people who are no longer in newspaper careers are somehow lying to themselves and others when they say they're perfectly happy.

It actually makes perfect sense, in your world.

As you said, you cannot see past your own computer screen.

 

Some are lying to themselves. Some aren't. There are tons of horrible, unfit and unhappy parents out there. How many have you met who actually admitted, "Jesus, this parenthood idea was a terrible mistake.''? Same thing with careers --- only saying you're not as happy in your new career isn't quite the social taboo that saying you're not as happy with kids as you were without them is. But there are such people. Lots of 'em.

Rationalization is the greatest asset the human mind has for keeping itself sane and satisfied.

Unless you truly believe that everyone that left the profession they entered --- whether involuntary or because they saw an inexorable decline in its future --- magically found a better place in one of the tightest job markets in this nation's recent history.

My colleagues and former colleagues still in the business typically own homes, take vacations. Many send their kids to private schools. They seem happy. They have family and social lives. They take pride in the work they do each day. All this gloom and misery, IMO, is grossly exaggerated based on what I see every day.

 

Bless you, BTE. Exactly.

 

One of the things I think we all learned in Journalism school is that our personal perspectives often - usually? - cannot be applied to everyone else.

Another important aspect of being a Journalist is the quality of being open-minded, and developing the ability to perceive the world in ways beyond the information which is directly in front of us.

 

Some of the companies I found outside the biz were incredibly horrible.
Much worse than newspapers, where at least people can work in unison.

 

I didn't go to J-school prior to becoming a journalist, so I was never taught that, but, I don't think it's true. At all. I am not in journalism now -- far from it -- and I work with a lot of people apply their personal perspectives to their work on an hourly basis. I certainly do in my job now, but not to the extent that my colleagues do.

And my colleagues, who are all in a very elite group of employees (there are fewer than 25k of us worldwide) are far more open minded than most and certainly perceive the world far beyond information "directly in front of us." As foreign service officers, that is pretty much the job description.