CNN gets it right: a reporter's life is stressful

I hate when I follow a blog or a columnist and it is days, weeks - or even months on a rare occasion - between postings. So I feel a little guilty that my postings have been much more infrequent in recent weeks. In fact, as anyone who follows this blog knows, it's been nearly a week since I posted.

Blame it on the Pinnacle Awards special section I had to design, edit, and partly write, last week. And on the day I took off to drive back from the U2 concert in Pasadena. Or the student interns who called in sick or took a week off to go to Hawaii. This week felt like I was weeks behind schedule, even with the work I did on Saturday, and writing a couple columns late in the day on Monday, after getting very little sleep and driving for nearly six hours. It's the life of a journalist, and probably one of the reasons "reporter" was named to CNN Money's list of stressful jobs that pay badly.

Others jobs that made the list include social worker and probation officer, so basically reporter is right up there with people who are breaking up families or following around criminals.

I am technically not a reporter anymore since my official title is city editor, but I still do plenty of reporting, writing, page designing and sometimes even handle receptionist duties since that position is filled by a part-timer. But perhaps I am not the only reporter in the world who is grinding my teeth in my sleep and having nightmares about work on a regular basis - and occasionally crying a few frustrated tears.

But there is a reason some of us reporters stick with a job that offers a mediocre salary and lots of stress. There are moments that make it all worthwhile, such as the reader who came in today and said he feels like he knows me since he always reads my food column. Or discovering last night that someone who has been a mentor with the Puente program at Gavilan College for going on three years (I am a mentor with the program, too) signed up originally when he read a story I wrote about the need for more male mentors.

It might be a world of stress, but the little impact I can have on the world makes it worthwhile.