About Moving Up in the World

When I got up for work, I deleted the alarms I had set to go off every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to wake me up for work. When I wake up for work on Monday, it will be with the sun already up, an experience I really haven't had in about seven and a half years.*

Parting, in this case, is just sweet. No sorrow.

In that time, I worked while Tamara slept, and I slept while she worked. That won't happen anymore. On Monday, I move from producing the morning newscast at ABC 17 News to managing the digital efforts at ABC 17 News.

This is a big thing, apparently, although it doesn't really feel like it at the moment, and I'm not sure why. Since I graduated college in 2007, I've really only produced morning newscasts. There was a brief stint in 2008 where I was the assignment editor at ABC 17, but that didn't work out, and I was quickly on mornings again. Since then, every day, it's been morning news.

I wake up, I get to work, I see what they had the night before I can use, I see what's happened in the world since the previous 10 p.m. news ended, I see what's happening around the world at the moment, and I somehow cobble all that together into a two-hour news show by 5 a.m. every morning.

It is not - it could never be - a solo effort. I don't write this with any intention of thinking I have been successful at my job by my own efforts alone. Not a chance. From Michelle Linn and Ryan Snyder and Jeff Huffman to Lauren Gores and Neville Miller and Kevin Vauble to Kristie Reeter and Justin Abraham and Kevin Vauble to Ashley Strohmier and Brittany Beggs and Kevin Vauble - these are the co-pilots who made this show fly every single morning. Sometimes the flight was bumpy. Occasionally there's be a hard landing. More often than not, it was smooth sailing. And I learned, and grew, and was stretched, and was polished, and I am better for it.

So why change? Why get away from something so familiar and comfortable and ingrained? As Gail Sheehy said, "If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living." I'd be lying if I said that was the main impetus behind my moving on, but regardless, it's true. I'm ready to do something else, learn something else, get good at something else (I hope).

And I'm ready to re-learn what daylight looks like. I may have to get the industrial-sized bottle of sunscreen from Sam's, but that's what I get for being a night owl more than 8 years.

I get the feeling I won't really know how different my life will be until I'm well into the deep end, until I've jumped off the high dive, until I've gotten my feet wet.**

What I already know I'll miss:

- My coworkers, especially Kevin, with whom I've worked just about every morning for more than five of my years on the AM newscast
- Having the newsroom to myself for two hours every morning
- Less-to-no workplace drama in my life
- Getting the bed all to myself for most of my sleep (and I know Tamara feels the same)
- Being able to have dinner ready for Tamara when she gets home
- Having a large part of Friday free to do whatever I want

Just a few of the irreplaceable I'll miss working with

What I already know I won't miss:

- Having to set at least two alarms to make sure I'm up for work
- Hoping my inconsistent sleep schedule is consistent enough to get my body the rest it needs
- Calling reporters in the middle of the night, before they were expecting to rouse from their much-needed sleep, because there might be a fire or police chase somewhere
- Missing out on work-related food because it's all gone or has been left out for HOURS before I get in
- Napping on Sundays because I have to, not because I want to

I will admit - a part of me is scared to death. What I'm to do from now on is not only more work, but more responsibility, requires more organization, more proactive-ness, more initiative, and more leadership. Some of those - I'm not so good at, I fear. Can I better myself in those areas? Of course. But it's that whole inertia thing - hard to get going until I've gotten going, you know?

Anyway, that's my little brain-yark session for now. Life's going to be different starting on Monday. I have a feeling it's going to be the good kind of different, even if it takes a bit to start feeling this way.


*I did fill in during the daytime for one week a couple of years back. And of course I'm not referring to weekends, only workdays.

**What is it about swimming that makes it so metaphor-able?