Light at the end of the tunnel

I think it finally hit me about mid-week during spring break. Just as the opening round of the NCAA tournament was about to begin, I had an awakening. This is my last spring break and last time to get hyped up as a student during the big dance.

It was a strange, empty feeling. I've always known I would graduate, but I didn't expect it would take me three years longer than it should have. It's just been something I've grown accustomed to – a life consumed as a full time student with a full time job.

I'm sure that most of my peers are experiencing the same kind of "post-graduation" anxiety – a life outside of the classroom. But that is where I differ from my classmates.

I already have a decent career established. Granted it has nothing in common with the degree I'm seeking (try as I may, I never could find a class that taught good customer service ass-kissing skills) and have spent thousands of dollars on. But I love my job and I'm comfortable. I know I'm good at it, and I've been told there's potential to become one of the "big wigs."

Unlike others who are struggling to actually find a job in this struggling economy, I have several doors staring me in the face. I've been approached by Kansas City news stations to begin work BEFORE graduation. Needless to say, I'm still pretty shocked. Never could I have imagined my journalism career beginning in a market like Kansas City's.

I know most people reading this blog (hopefully it's more than Uncle Rick and my family!) would say I'm crazy for even thinking I have a difficult decision on my hands -do I stay with what I know, what I'm content with, and can potentially make a decent living; or do I venture into a career that, quite frankly, has a questionable future and take a cut in pay?

As I weighed my options, I understood I had a fear of the unknown. I was about to join others who are satisfied with "just settling." Contentment keeps us average, keeps us doing all the same things everybody else is doing, simply because it is the familiar thing to do.

I quickly realized this is not the type of lifestyle to which I aspired. I don't think I could have ever really been happy, knowing in the back of my mind I passed on what might have been. I see my journalism career as a different set of skills to improve on. It's finally time for me to prove exactly what I'm made of.