Unrealistic expectations of the business?

It's easy: marry a lawyer.

 

That doesn't work. I tried it.

 

i'm already married! ;D

but seriously, 85bears, being jealous of young f-ing studs is not limited to journalism. it's the same in any profession. how many anonymous middle-aged middle managers do you think get pissed when they see a guy 10 years younger get promoted over him or who is obviously annointed with greatness? journalism is no different than any other profession in this way.

 

Well, it all comes back to one thing - You got to really, really love this, or it can get to you. The longer I'm around, the tougher it becomes not to be disallusioned. I see why people burn out, quit, or let other parts of their lives go to hell.

 

Disillusionment in my case comes from watching people younger and less experienced than me whiz on by to greener pastures. I don't begrudge them their successes; I'd be a damnable wretch were I to. But I dunno ... I think I can honestly say that when people were telling me that I was a gifted sportswriter as a 18-year-old in college and a 24-year-old as a part-timer at a >200,000-circ. paper, I didn't think I'd be celebrating my 32nd birthday at a non-daily paper with no reasonable prospects for advancing, covering a soccer match with a freelance photographer who would immediately report me because I made a slip and told him the world wasn't always rosy at my paper, trying to figure out just where the fuck my life jumped the shark. I'm happy for the people who make it, some of whom are friends, but I'm in the same breath sad for me. Am I petty for whining? I s'pse so. Maybe it's time for me to move on ... in whatever form "moving on" takes.

 

Good luck Meat. Hope it works out.

 

I'm under 30 working at an under-25K paper and that's okay. Not great, but okay. Why? My job is not my life. I write about things that are ultimately inconsequential within a set time frame every week.

I have a nice house, a good wife, good friends and a dog. I don't let my work dictate my overall happiness with my life. There are 168 hours in the week. I spend 40 of them working and 56 of them sleeping. The other 72 hours are also spent not worrying about if some other under-30 sports writer makes it to SI. That's 128 hours well spent.

It's just a job to me. Doesn't mean I don't put in effort and do a good job, but it's just a job.

 

Meat, hang in there. It gets greater later. Don't give up. And never stop praying and believing in yourself.

 

That's a great attitude to have, but I think the reason people get frustrated with their journalistic lot is that the love for their job evolves over time. Most of us know you won't get rich working at newspapers. The love sustains you. But newspapers often rarely love you back. Some people can't deal when the intial infatuation wears off and act like they are stuck in a bad marriage. Those people need to get counseling or get out.

 

My take on it is that if it WASN'T more than a job to me, I would've gotten awfully damn depressed a few times over the years.

When it's 12:20 and the only reason you can't walk out the door is the Air Force-Idaho basketball game ... the way you keep smiling is remembering there's nothing else you'd rather do.

When you miss your kid's Little League game because you have to be in the office that night ... the way you keep smiling is, etc., etc.

I could not have AFFORDED it just being a job to me. And if it WAS just a job to me, I would've been working a 9-to-5er quite a while ago.

 

Exactly. So I invest in my wife and friends, who do love me back.

My dad has worked in the same mediocre job for over 20 years. He does it because he leaves work at work and enjoys his life outside of work. He hunts, he fishes, he officiates high school football in the fall.

Like Tyler Durden said, "You're not your job."

 

You're not your job, but when you move to a new part of the country you've never been to, and have no family, friends or familiarities nearby, and have little prospects of a social life because you're in the office every night and weekend, then often, it sure the hell feels like you are your job.