Till Death Do Us Part

There are few words I can use to describe the rush and thrill I feel when I’m reporting and writing. If you want a simple answer, it’s that I feel alive. I feel an incredible rush of energy, and  although I don’t think I will ever shake that initial nervousness I feel when I approach someone to talk to, once I get started I can’t stop.

I somehow generate this incredible power that keeps me going - even if I’ve been on my feet for hours and I’m so tired that if given the chance, I could fall asleep. The surge of passion I have for journalism and writing is unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life. It is the opposite of apathy at its finest.

I don’t feel like it’s a job, I feel like I’m in the midst of providing an incredible civil service, talking to people who want and need to be heard, allowing people to pick up a paper or go online to discover something new that has my byline attached to it.  I feel free. I become an optimist, even amidst job cuts and dwindling readership. There is no elegant way to describe the chill that runs through my body when I can introduce myself as a journalist - it’s electrifying and astounding all at the same time. It is every single emotion in me coming alive. It is what I am meant to do in this lifetime. I feel it in my bones.

If you’re wondering where this sudden state of euphoria is coming from, it’s that I was on a reporting assignment tonight (that I pitched)  that really was the highlight of my week. The atmosphere was amazing, the questions I was asking got some amazing responses, the love that I was feeling was overwhelming and I know that when I’m done writing this story, it’s something that I am going to be so proud of.

After talking to a few people, I stepped outside in the almost cold Los Angeles air, my wild, curly hair dancing with the light breeze. If no one had been around, I would have let out a little happy dance, but I smiled to myself instead. I felt my soul radiating from inside. I was feeding it with passion and it was satisfied.

“I knew I was going to be a journalist, and that was it…full stop,” says Suzy Welch. Truer words have never been spoken.