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Post No. 1,000 advice: Don't make this job your life

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by jps, Sep 8, 2008.

  1. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Although I enjoy what I do, it's simply that: what I do to pay the bills.

    A few years ago when my wife ummm "resigned" from the job she had been doing for 15 years, she was distraught and said "They took it away from me. That's my life." I bout had to put the beat down on her right then and there. Now in her new gig, she is happy as can be. When I remind her of that statement, she just says "shut up."
     
  2. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    JPS' post was much, much, better than my 1,000th, which was pretty lame, I admit.

    This is one of my favorite sayings about work and careers: "No one every said on their deathbed that they wished they spent more time at the office."

    And I like plain Hebrew National hot dogs, with a bun and mustard. Nice and simple.
     
  3. mike311gd

    mike311gd Active Member

    Crap.
     
  4. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Well said, jps. That's been my philosophy all along. I've been lucky not to miss anything major, positive or negative, in my family's go-around to date.

    You only get one life. Enjoy it.
     
  5. jps

    jps Active Member

    dude, thought you'd be happy. you're screwed!
     
  6. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Ain't that a kick in the nuts?
     
  7. trifectarich

    trifectarich Well-Known Member

    I'll second that. There's going to come a time when you'll look back at it all and wonder if you got everything out of life that you should have. By then it might be too late, so do it while you can.
     
  8. Seahawk

    Seahawk Member

    Great post JPS, glad it worked out. It is important to maintain a sense of perspective when deciding what is truly important in your life.

    I once left a job in order to care for my mother, who was dying of breast cancer. It was an experience I would not wish on anyone, having to care for a parent (or child, sibling or any other person) who has been completely debilitated by a disease. My work place was extremely supportive, but I resigned shortly after the emergency family leave window expired. The place had done right by me, but I couldn't give an answer for when I'd be able to return. The right thing to do for them was to step down.

    My mother wound up living a couple weeks longer than expected, and I wouldn't trade anything for those extra few days with her. At the time, I remember wondering what the hell I was going to do, since I was out of work and had a wife, mortgage and everything else to deal with.

    It was hard as hell some days, as I wound up unemployed for four months, and the job market was not exactly flush with opportunities. The day after her memorial service, I saw an ad for the job that helped get me back in my feet. Now a couple years later, I am in a new position once again, a job that provided a significant salary increase plus better, more stable hours. Things have a way of working out.
     
  9. RossLT

    RossLT Guest

    Dammit, IJAG you should have been a professor at my college. All we had was teachers who told us how great the business was. They never mentioned the hours or pay, we could have used a dose of reality.
     
  10. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    I gave a presentation to students at a university in my county. Included in my presentation were the starting salaries of reporters at my shop and my then-salary as managing editor. Following my presentation, the professor e-mailed me and thanked me for giving a realistic portrayal of the business.

    I couldn't have done otherwise.
     
  11. RossLT

    RossLT Guest

    I had a prof who was all about her love of the profession and how great and noble it was to be a reporter. It finally hit me after I graduated that I was taking the advice of someone who had left the business. When I called her to tell her I got laid-off from my paper she asked me what I was going to do and I said I was done with journalism. She acted like the world had ended. I never did ask her why she left the business.
     
  12. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Perhaps she was thinking she conned another sucker.
     
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