One of my favorite poems is “Desiderata” by Max Hermann. A childhood friend shared it with me during a particularly tumultuous period during our teenage years. There was a time when most of it was committed to memory, but this little bit always pops into my head:
“Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
The universe is unfolding as it should. Fate. Things happening as they should. 2014 ended up with two major life changes, acting as bookends for the year. January brought a sudden move out the dark, miserable apartment I had spent six years living in, thanks to a carbon monoxide leak. The move to Jeff’s place happened quickly, swiftly, and months earlier than planned. Things (or fate) happen. I hadn’t planned on staying in that apartment for as long as I did, but I got stuck in that space. The move was like ripping a bandaid off. Little did I know that another very significant life change was coming.
When I reread “Desiderata” today to find the quote about the universe unfolding as it should, this relevant verse popped out at me:
“Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.”
It was a good, but slower year for photography than 2013. Clients’ lives and businesses drastically changed, and I’m incredibly grateful for the work I did for Kerri Nelson Photography, OXO, City Year Boston, DRINKMaple, and Foodie Asylum. I’m really looking forward to what 2015 brings! I’ll be looking to book more food photography related jobs, events, and a few weddings either as a main or second shooter.
I’m also incredibly grateful for my career at 7News. My colleagues are a hilarious group of people who made me laugh every single day, which I’m so incredibly thankful for. We work together through holidays, elections, snow storms, sports victory parades, and the saddest, most heartbreaking stories imaginable. It’s an emotional struggle to do a job I love when those stories happen… I also never worried about losing my job to a computer system which consolidates jobs in the control room. (For non-TV industry folks, that computer technology resulted in massive layoffs over the past decade.)
2014 brought more opportunities to direct newscasts, which lead to a big promotion from an Associate Director to Newscast Director. It’s what I aimed for since college, and it came with a significant pay raise.
A little over a month after I was officially promoted, and just shy of my 13th work anniversary, I gave my two week notice.
In between interviewing for the promotion and it being offered, I was contacted by Emerson College about an opportunity to manage their journalism production center. I love directing television, so accepting the offer was a somewhat difficult decision to make. The studios at Emerson use completely different technology from 7News, so there’s a lot to learn. After working at the same place for 13 years, a fresh new challenge is exciting. I can go back to school and earn my master’s degree without going massively into debt. TV news is a 24/7 type of industry, so normal hours and having weekends and holidays off was a lure. I believe today is the first New Years Day I’ve had off, and I never got home for more than a day or two around Christmas. Thanksgiving? Forget about it. I spent the past 12 Thanksgivings with my 7News family.
Honestly, I had been contemplating what would be next in my career for quite some time, but nothing other than directing TV felt right. But the gut feeling I had while interviewing at Emerson was too strong to ignore. With a more predictable schedule, I can build up my photography business a bit more and hope to freelance in the TV business around town. I’m not putting my headset down for good!
“…the universe is unfolding as it should.”
Happy New Year!