Journalism vs Student Affairs

Quote of the Day:
"Never be the first to believe. Never be the last to deceive."
- Nobody's Side, Chess [Maybe not a very Student Affairs-y attitude - and not really my attitude since I'd probably be the first to believe and the first that was deceived...haha...but I just love that song. Especially when Uwe Kroeger and Pia Douwes sing it.]

Advising craziness has started and my life has ended - at least my personal and social life. Okay, maybe it's not that bad but it's definitely back to having meetings from 9 am until 11 pm, staying in the office until the wee hours of the morning and sleeping on my couch because I'm afraid that I won't wake up if I sleep in my oh-so-comfortable bed. And while the unavoidable workload is already enough to take over my life, I still manage to find other things to occupy myself with. I'm writing an article for a magazine - something that's caused me quite a lot of headaches these past three days. You'd think this was easy for me. After all, I have a degree in journalism; I was even editor-in-chief of our student newspaper. But oh no, of course I manage to put all this pressure on myself. I want this article to be FABULOUS. And I haven't written anything in so long - at least not anything serious (this blog really doesn't count because it's just me rambling on about life).

In my frustration, I've started looking through old short stories and newspaper articles that I've written. And of course now - hours later- I've got nothing for my article but have had more than one good laugh at my old cheesy columns. Even then - I was only in my second year as an RA - I was already a true ResLifer. My columns discussed social justice issues, eating disorders, alcohol use. And then, of course, the famous last column - full of bitterness - after having been forced to make a choice between ResLife and the newspaper (by my editorial board). Would I have stuck with journalism if I didn't have those bad experiences with our editorial board?

No, it seems impossible to imagine me doing anything but working in Student Affairs. Even now, when I'm stressed over fitting academic advising, programming, time for my RAs and grads, committee work, NRHH and everything else into 24-hour days, I'd still much rather do that then sit in a newspaper office. I liked journalism and I could have been happy doing it - but it wouldn't have been "my life." Maybe I'd have a little more balance in my life then, maybe I'd even be in a relationship and on my way to starting my own family, but something would be missing....

Well, now that it's a few hours later, I still haven't gotten past that first paragraph of my article (which is due by the end of the week...AHHHH), and those flyers for programs next week are non-existent, so I should probably stop blogging and either go to bed or do work.