I know the burnout rate is high in my profession, but that didn’t use to bother me. I figured the people who grew bitter and cynical just couldn’t hack it in this business.
I never claimed not to be naiive.
Now that rate frightens me because I’ve realized I could be part of that number. I’m a year in, and already I struggle with living to work instead of vice-versa. I only work 25 hours a week, but I feel a slave to my job.
You know what scares me even more than the possibility of going a different route, of holding a $25,000 degree that I may not use for the rest of my life? I am terrified to think that the problem could be me.
I’m not going to give up journalism easily, if at all. Even if I decide newspapers aren’t for me, there are other possibilites. I’m not the most disciplined person, and I want to stick this out for a while – because it would be good for me.
But it would also be good for me to admit that there could be other options.