Why I love my job, part one

Work consumes me.

I've said before that I don't like talking about my job on social media - including this blog - because I love it and don't want to get fired for saying something stupid. But I think I have a fairly good grasp of what I should and shouldn't say, so I'm going to try to waive that rule a little. I'm realizing more and more every day that my work is a major part of my life and to exclude it from this blog would be a huge disservice to everyone who reads it.

So, for those of you who are too lazy to read the "about me" column on this page, I'm a reporter with a newspaper in Northwest Arkansas. I graduated from college last May and didn't think I'd find someone to pay me to write. Some of that was because I am perpetually self-deprecating but it was mostly due to my struggle with finding employment in the months after graduation. 

I heard about the job - and was practically hired on the spot - because of my college mentor. He taught journalism classes at my college and later worked as my boss at the school's public relations office. I struggled with a lot of personal issues in college and struggled even more trying to hide them, which caused many of my friends and professors to lose trust in me. 

My mentor never did. He gave me a second chance when he saw me flailing, and I will forever be grateful to him for that. Anyway, he must have told my boss something impressive because I was hired less than 10 minutes after I stepped in the newspaper office and started planning a move from Fayetteville to Eureka Springs. The whole process shocked me; on the car ride to Eureka, I rehearsed my pitch in my head until I wasn't sure what job I was even applying for. 

Driving home from the interview, I felt overcome with peace. I knew I had found my calling, as terribly cliche as that sounds. Being a journalist is great because you get to tell stories. I believe everyone has a story to tell and I feel so, so honored that I get to represent so many different perspectives through my writing. I make people feel important. That's the true point of journalism, I think, despite what Nancy Grace would say.

I actually know very little of her political leanings save for the fact that she scares me.

I knew I had this passion for journalism when I started working, but I didn't realize at the time how much the job would change me. Since I was a kid, I've been kind of reactionary despite claiming that I'm moderate in every sense of the word. I really had a mindset that what I believed was true and I didn't waver from that. I was spoiled by my family and often felt entitled to things I didn't earn or deserve, which really made me pleasant to be around.

The first article I wrote was a feature obituary about a young kindergarten teacher who passed away unexpectedly. Suddenly, I felt incredibly grateful to be alive. I started working on some feature articles about local charitable organizations, including Loaves & Fishes Food Bank and Carroll County Circle of Life. The former helps low-income families with groceries, with the latter teaching teen mothers how to nurture and provide for their children. 

When I interviewed the woman in charge of Loaves & Fishes' Backpack Project - a project that provides backpacks of food for kids who qualify for subsidized breakfasts and lunches at public schools - she told me that some children go entire weekends without eating a full meal. I realized that I never, ever wanted for food. In fact, I have a slew of body issues and have sometimes stopped eating for days to lose weight.

I really thought I had it bad being overweight and feeling unattractive, but that's just not true. How could I have been so selfish to think my body issues were the worst thing in the world when I have a pantry full of food and there are families out there who have to live on less than minimum wage? While my problems are very real, I know now how lucky I am to have those problems.

This job is changing me. It's making me think of other perspectives - truly doing this and not just saying I am - before I make up my mind about something. 

And for that, I might be the luckiest person in the world.