Journalism and Friends

I love being a journalist. I love my job. I love writing. I love news.

But sometimes, my job is tougher on my personal life than my career.

I have friends who are journalists. Most of them live far away and are just as busy as I am. They understand working at a mid-sized paper, having to work the night shift, getting calls from the copy desk that wake you from sleep, working weekends, and that no matter what the news never stops. They understand that even after your shift has ended your job is not done.

Many of the best stories come from things I observe when I'm not on the clock just driving around. I see things that make me ask questions, I stop, make a mental note, take a picture and file it away into my basket of things to pursue.

But those friends who understand my job is more than just a job live far away.

I think that most of my friends who are not in the media business think I am making things up, or just don't want to see them when I can't do something. I have a schedule that says once every 6 weeks I work nights, once every 6 weeks I work weekends. But if I want time off that changes. Or, if a town I cover has a meeting I must go to, I work nights. If a fellow reporter wants to switch shifts, and they switched with me once then I owe them.

When I come home at night, I don't want to have to justify why I can't hang out with my friends until 1am when I have to work at 7 the next morning, or just got off work at midnight.

Fellow journalists tell you not to get caught in the trap of having only other journalists as friends. But when your friends with "normal" jobs don't understand your life, what do you do then?