A career in journalism?

That's the question I asked myself when I was sitting next to the sports editor at The Forum http://www.inforum.com/ in Fargo, North Dakota, back in 1993.
I was a senior in high school and my journalism instructor, Robert Hendricks, had landed me an internship/job as a sports reporter with the "big guys" in the sports department at The Forum.
At the time, I was the co-editor of our high school newspaper, The Sudhian. I was grateful to have "my foot in the door" before I headed off to journalism school at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Lincoln.
However, this night changed my life and career path for years to come. I was sitting next to the editor, taking commands as I usually did. "Yes, sir." "You bet...no problem," were usually my replies. Phone calls were coming in left and right and I was trying to keep up with all the latest scores and comments from local coaches. I hadn't had a bathroom break the entire evening.
I tried to keep to myself at The Forum, do my job, not step on any toes and hopefully get out by 12:00 or 1:00 a.m. so that I could manage to get a couple hours of sleep before going back to school the next day.
The shift was coming to a close. The paper had just finished its first run on the press. I was dreaming of my bed. I wasn't a fan of the second hand smoke coming from one of our news editors (who I will call "Jim" for privacy purposes). I think "Jim" had been there going on 30 years. I don't think he had moved all night either. No wonder he was about 300 pounds, I thought. He seemed pretty unhappy, too. He had been cursing most of the night. If I didn't have a clear view of him, I would have thought he was talking to a fellow reporter...but I was the closest one to him with no one else in sight.
I always had my eye on the clock. But for the last part of the shift, I lost all sense of time. I thought about Jim. "Do I want to be like him 20 years from now?"
To this day, I am thankful for Jim, Robert Hendricks, and those late nights at The Forum for sending me in a different direction and on a different career path.
I have been a critical care Registered Nurse for 8 years now and I love nursing. On top of the excitement of critical care nursing is legal nurse consulting, which I have been doing for a little over a year.
I like responding to instructions from a doctor or lawyer much better. I also get to take bathroom breaks as needed. Thanks to today's age, I now enjoy breathing fresh air as well. And yes, nurses do walk a lot, so the exercise is better than being planted in a chair for 8 hours.
Thanks again, Jim.

By Brian Brandser, RN, BSN, CCRN, CLNC