Is anybody else finding it hard to tear away from the biz?

Just thought I'd resurrect this thread now that I'm in a similar position waiting to hear back about an online/marketing job in the real world while still gearing up for another high school football season and all that entails. The uncertainty of what another career would be like is intimidating (this is all I've known even going back to high school, about 10 years), but the thought of the freedom and new possibilities of a different profession is exciting.

Has anyone else gone through this more in the two months or so since this thread died down?

 

Not here. I've gotten into the business with a full-time job and I'm really enjoying it. I can't see myself doing anything else, and I like it that way.

 

My take has always been this .....

I'm a big believer in the old saying that "if you find something to do that you love, you'll never work a day in your life." How many of you sportswriters actually consider what you do "work?" I'm not saying that it isn't challenging, frustrating, tiresome, stressful and everything else that comes along with any other job. But when you look at it at the end of the day, what's better than watching, talking about, reading about and writing about sports --- and getting paid for it (albeit poorly).

I have several friends not in the business. For example, one works at some investment company and he basically sits in a little cubicle in a suit and tie and crunches numbers all day. Is that fullfilling for him? Does he have a passion for that? Does he wake up excited to go to work every day? No, no and hell no. Before I got laid off from my paper this spring, I actually got excited to go to work sometimes if I was covering a big game or getting started on an interesting feature. How many people actually get excited to go to work? Only a lucky few.

At the end of the day, I would much rather do something that I love that has major drawbacks (shitty pay, shitty schedule, shitty benefits, etc) than do something that makes me miserable for 8 hours a day but has betetr pay, better schedule, better benefits.

Because 8 hours a day is a long time to spend miserable, and that's no way to live your life.

 

Not me. Although I'm far from miserable in my current gig, it's nowhere near as fun or exciting as working in the sports department. Not sure I'll ever find a job like that again. But the better pay, schedule and benefits make it WELL worth it. It's all on how you like to live your life. If working a job you love is at the top of the list, fine. But at the top of my list are things away from work (spending more time with the wife and other famly, traveling, etc.) I couldn't have that while working in newspapers. I get it now and I love it.

To each his own, but people seem to keep forgetting that there IS a middle ground. Sure, you might LOVE newspapers, but the other job won't necessarily be something "miserable."

 

Ryan: I can definitely see your point.

One thing that sort of worries me about the business is the strain it can have on one's family life. The shitty pay, travel and working nights and weekends. If you're wife works 9-5 and you work 4-midnight at the paper, when do you ever get to see each other? Do you miss out on your own kids' youth basketball games because you're busy covering the high school game instead?

I am in my 20's and not married yet (long-term girlfriend) with no kids. At my old paper, there were a couple sportswriters who were married with kids and I saw the strain that was put on their personal life by the newspaper business. As enjoyable as the sportswriting work is, the lifestyle is a tough one. I hope to get married and have a family one day but I would hate to do it while still being in the business. I don't want to be that husband or that father thats never around and I want to provide more than a sportswriters salary.

So it's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to give up the career that I'm passionate about but I want to be well off in my personal life. I know there's a lot of newspaper vets on here that may be able to provide some better insight on this, but I just think it will be tough to have my cake and eat it too.

 

To echo Ryan's point, I loved being a sportswriter. I didn't love my life outside of sportswriting. My social life was limited to late-nighters and I was always broke. Now I am in a job that is pretty boring, but not at all intolerable. I could take it or leave it for eight hours a day. But it pays a lot more, and on Saturday, I can do whatever the hell I want.

 

Exactly. It's matter of Lifestyle vs. Having a job you "love".

And yes, my wife has always worked a 9-5. We saw each other very little, which was a good and bad thing. Fortunately, she's always worked close enough to home where she could come home for lunch. So that was nice. All told, we saw each other at lunch, maybe at dinner and for an hour or so after I got home at midnight or whatever. That's it.

 

Good for you.

You have no idea how horny I am about having Friday nights and all day Saturday off during football season for the first time in what seems like forever.

 

/raises hand

I'm that person you're describing. My wife works 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. I work 3 p.m. to midnight. The number of times we spend with each other awake per month could be counted on less than two hands. I rarely get two days off and if I do, they're Monday/Thursday or some strange combination like that. She's always off weekends, but I'm always working.

As for the kids' thing, mine are still young, but I've already missed out on a ton of things. This year was my oldest's first year in T-ball and I made four of his 16 games.

There are times when I get really depressed because I feel like I don't have a family. I start to get paranoia about whether or not my wife actually misses me (I know she does) or if my kids actually look forward to seeing me (I know they do). But it's hard to spend days on end without ever seeing your wife or kids when they're not sleeping. I've tried to get up some mornings with them before school, but it just seems to throw my entire day off, so I don't do it often.

I feel like at some point, I will either break and find a new job or I'll grow apart from my family and lose them. I can't see it working out long-term with the way it's currently going. When you think about it, coaches' wives are a lot like sports writers' wives. The only difference is we marry the teachers and librarians and they marry the cheerleaders.

 

Don't take this wrong, but it seems like this is a plea for help. You need to seriously think about a career change NOW. 4 of 16 games? You kept track so you want to be at those games. You either need to get them to change your schedule some at the paper or GET OUT. I'm not trying to be mean; your post was touching and I feel for you.

p.s. You also need to drag yourself out of bed in the morning and be witih the kids at that time, Stagger. You can nap immediately after they go to school. You really are going to have to adjust your schedule to do that. Your post screams that you need some professional help or a job change. Good luck!

 

Family first. Job second.

I left sports for something with better hours. I don't like my job as much, but I like my life more. I'll take that trade every time.

 

This is kind of a wacky post that defines our profession. Re-read what you wrote.
You love doing a job that has "shitty pay, shitty schedule and shitty benefits." In other words, you love a job where you are devalued and treated pretty much like shit.
That is kind of a non-sequitir (sp?). It's like you love self abuse.
You love being taken advantage of.
Newspapers (also considering how they've treated so many great employees in firing them the past couple years to save money) are the biggest disgrace perhaps in American workplace history. Disgraceful.