Is it worth it anymore?

And whatever you do, do not, under any circumstance, listen to someone who calls you a "sellout" when you do get your open door out of the business. Show me a guy who's bitching about someone selling out and I'll show you someone that usually is envious of that person.

 

It's still worth it to me, and for me.

I would agree with Waylon that it's quite preferable not to live your life for the job.

 

Actually, that's about equals the top I made in newspapers. As for what the actual work is like, I have no idea.

 

True dat. And judging from other threads on these boards, the current trends are salaries going DOWN, not up.

 

Can a sports journalist actually sell out?

 

Doing this job is sort of like staying in a marriage that is drifting away "for the kid's sake."

You've accepted and understand there will be more misery than there used to be and it won't ever be like it was before but you hope that it produces enough happy moments throughout each month to remind you why you got into in the first place.

 

In recent days I've begun to compare this job to like being in an abusive marriage. The business keeps going all Chris Brown on me, and I know it's better for my health if I leave ... but I've just got nowhere else to go.

 

Problem is, those happy moments are just scarce enough to remind you that they're dwindling and that the rest of the time, this business bears little resemblance to what you got into in the first place.

It's like letting you eat one salted peanut, then taking the can away for a month or so, at which point you get to eat one more.

 

I'm a college baseball player, and the same way things are tanking in newspapers, my career tanked once I got into college. It was depressing, I still struggle more days than I'd like. But I had to learn just this -- get into something other than what you've lived for for so long.

Good thoughts, Waylon.

 

I'm going to repeat what I've said a lot of times on this board.

There are many of us who desperately want out who are getting little to no joy out of what we are doing anymore.

Two problems:
1. Jobs aren't there in other industries.
2. Too many journalists believe "well, this is the only thing I know how to do."

 

It's often a pretty fierce struggle against loneliness in this job. The offices are emptier. The people you like have left. There are fewer comrades out on the road with you. Couple this with the fact that this job does severely hamper your social and personal life and it often feels like it's not worth it.

That's the part that really gets to me the most (well, that and the pay). I can deal with and adapt to all the other bullshit.