Take this job and . . . pay me to leave it? Sure

Happy New Year, I quit. It didn’t go down exactly that like that — it was more amicable on both sides — but the end result is the same: for the first time since I was 15 years old, I’m unemployed. Thankfully, it’s gainful unemployment. After much reflection, I decided to take a buyout from my job as a reporter at a major metropolitan daily newspaper (this column is just a long-standing side hustle.) My last day was Dec. 31, which made for an interesting New Year’s Eve full of celebration tinged with guilt and sadness (so like most New Year’s Eves, really.) The reasons are both personal and professional. My oldest kid is on a gap year and wants to travel and she’s amenable to having her old man tag along. I’ve seen a lot of this country but not a lot of the world. Getting paid to see some of it sounds pretty good. There are other things on my to-do list that have been neglected due to the all-consuming nature of my approach to work. Reconnecting with old friends. Riding my bike. A litany of half-finished projects and half-baked ideas . . . Also, closing old doors opens new ones, in my experience. I’ve had my fair share of dumb luck career-wise — more than my fair share, actually — but I’ll take my chances with whatever talent I have and the universe. “What are you going to do now?” is the question I’ve been getting but that’s not the one I’ve been dealing with. In reality it was “Can you leave a decently paying journalism job knowing you probably won’t get another one?” I love this business and the vast majority of the people in it. The work they do has never been more important: holding people accountable and giving voice to the voiceless. Leaving the industry right now feels like a betrayal. Community journalism — the kind done at The Record — matters a great deal. I hope it finds a way to continue to not just survive but thrive. I’m frustrated by the state of affairs but also weirdly optimistic about the future. So I’m no longer Drew Edwards, professional journalist — the only job I’ve ever really done. Now, I’m just Drew. Which is, of course, who I have always been. It’s a dangerous thing to allow who you are to get tied up with what you do. I’m still Drew Edwards, navelgazing columnist (at least for now.) This space, which I’ve held for more than 10 years in one form or another, has been a wonderful outlet for my creative self, a chance to write about serious stuff in a non-serious way. It’s also literally chronicled my kids growing up.

The world is changing and with it the nature of work. The number of people who spend an entire career in one job, with one employer or even in one industry gets fewer and fewer. There are pluses and minuses. The chance to constantly reinvent oneself is exciting. The uncertainty is scary as hell. But it’s going to be fine. I think it’s going to be fine. It will probably be fine. Either way, I’m going to make the most of this time to do some things that really matter to me. Then, no matter what happens, it will be worth it.