Writing this letter with a broken index finger, I can’t think of a more fitting way to end my time at The Ticker. Every week without fail, I would walk into the media suite with a new anecdote, some absurdity too original or bizarre to be fabricated.
Every week without fail, a room full of journalists sat listening intently. But my weekly press release was received with more than an appreciation for a good story. It was always received with concern, support, an encouraging word and, of course, a few good laughs.
Production doesn’t halt, just like life. The world keeps spinning, broken finger or not. You just have to keep spinning with it.
When I first agreed to be the Sports Editor, it was impulsive. I was a first-year student, eager to get involved in anything and everything.
Sure, I had watched a few college football games with my father and made a bracket for March Madness, but I would never claim to be a sports fanatic. For a long time, I couldn’t help but feel like the position should have been fulfilled by someone who watched games weekly, who bet on sports, who could recite the stats for any player – anything would be better than me, relying on ESPN to refresh my memory on sports jargon.
Yet the longer I spent writing and editing, the clearer it became that I was right where I needed to be, out of my comfort zone. Beyond The Ticker, if there is anything I can take away from my time at Baruch, it’s that there are two fundamental things you can do for yourself to optimize your time.
The first is to be uncomfortable. Take the leap, make a fool of yourself trying something new, let go of the familiar that no longer serves you. Become the Sports Editor and co-host a sports podcast when you know nothing about sports.
There’s something liberating about just attempting for the sake of it. You tried, and while you might not succeed, there’s peace in knowing you gave it a go. Oh, and of course, there’s usually a good story that comes out of it.
The second thing is to surround yourself with people who will encourage you to take the leap and also be there to pick you up when you fall.
College is tough. City life is tough. Going to college in the city is tough. Surround yourself with people who remind you that you are equipped and have the capabilities to take those risks, because you’ll come out the other side. People say you can’t trust the media, but in that media suite, I found some of the most trusting and supportive people.
Our Editor-in-Chief, Maya, never failed to remind me to take care of myself.
Mike never failed to make me laugh and turn a sob story into a comedy skit.
Ashanti, my successor, never failed to remind me that it’s okay to ask for help.
People are meant to rely on other people; it’s why language exists. We are meant to tell our stories, big and small, irrelevant and important. We are all narrators, and in a sense, we are all journalists, investigating the code to crack our own truths. You owe yourself the privilege of writing your own narrative. Otherwise, you place that honor in the hands of someone else.
Share your story, create a library of the collection of the autobiographies of those around you. Take the leap, and don’t look back towards the doubt you abandoned, but forward at the people waiting for you when you land.
Just try not to break a bone, but know that if you do, you’ll have another excerpt for your novel, and an eager audience waiting to read it.
