On Facebook, I am part of a BU journalism alumni group. One of the main practices of the group is that professors give shout outs to people who are moving jobs and winning awards for different projects. I get a little bit of jealousy when I see these. I wonder if I should still be in the game, working for a media organization and shrewdly observing stories for a living. I often question the career choices I’ve made. Sometimes I feel like I abandoned the field of journalism. However, I’m in a job I like, that challenges me, and plays to my strengths. I like it that my job doesn’t cause me to hate my life.
And then I think back to my “new” philosophy: the pomegranate. There are those people who shine brightly when they’re young and others who find their footing much later in life. I think Claudio “The Tinkerman” Ranieri, who has managed in professional soccer for I think close to 30 years. People respected Rainieri for his work, but the knock against him was that he had never won anything. And then this year, I think he’s in his mid-60s, he goes and wins the Premiere League with a team that was 5,000-to-1 odds to win the Premiere League. It will be, without a doubt, the greatest professional achievement of his lifetime. And it happened to him when he wasn’t a spring chicken.
I watched a good episode of the West Wing last night. CJ Craig, the White House Press Secretary, goes back to her hometown to deliver a speech at her high school reunion. She meets up with an old friend. Without delving too much into the plot, the friend tells her his life philosophy that the greatest day of your life should always be tomorrow. That sounds a little cheesy as I type it, but I think it’s true. You really don’t know for certain what’s going to happen. Always aim for the best. I don’t think that necessarily means you need to be skydiving everyday, but you should keep trying. Keep writing. Keep up with your exercising. Enjoy yourself.
There’s a morbid question that I like to ask people every once in a while, “If you were able to know what day you were going to die, would you find out?” I used to answer that, yes I would. It makes logical sense, so you can plan out things and live accordingly. I’ve recently changed my mind. I don’t think that knowledge is worth it. People say it opens up your life, but I don’t think it does. I think you would think about it every day and just count down to it. I don’t know if you could focus to do your best work. Some part of success is in the mystery of finding out if you can accomplish those things. Taking away the guesswork isn’t as big of a benefit as one might think.
Which goes back to my original post. No, I’m not out there winning awards. No, I’m not out there being a professional journalist. But I’m writing, which is why I got that degree in the first place. I wrote a lot of letters in the year 2015, 500 to be exact. That accomplishment made me happy. I’m forcing myself to write every day this year. (I know I’m still a few days behind, but I’m keeping at it!) I doubt this blog will win any awards or bring me recognition outside of my Facebook friend circles, but it keeps that writing muscle flexed. It’s brought me some sandwich-related notoriety and, most importantly, it gives me that floating feeling when you know you’re doing something you love. That’s such a good feeling. I’m not getting paid for it (but that would be great if I was!), but that great feeling is so worth it.
My best writing days are still ahead of me. I truly believe that.
No comments:
Post a Comment