Van Ree Report

Decisions.

Paul Arden once said, “if you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make, you will be the same as everyone else.”

I have always had a severe problem with decision-making, and I believe that indecisiveness is in fact a specialty of mine.

Then I met my boyfriend – someone who also delves into the talent of indecisiveness.

Learning to decide on things together has helped us grow as a couple, while at the same time it has also forced me to make decisions sometimes and learn that I can have a say in things without thinking my first initial decision is bound to be wrong and will turn into a nightmare.

“The problem, simply put, is that we cannot choose everything simultaneously. So we live in danger of becoming paralyzed by indecision, terrified that every choice might be the wrong choice,” said author Elizabeth Gilbert.

I always said to myself that I would follow my heart, and that no matter what I would strive for happiness even where others might disapprove.

I received my bachelor’s degree in communication, specifically journalism, from Washington State University. Every class, every hour, every dollar – I saw how much went into obtaining that tiny piece of paper.

You would think after putting so much time, effort, and money into that degree that I would feel myself sold to that profession for a long period of time, and I did, until now.

I always hear that after college, it’s a rarity that students stay in their picked profession for the rest of their life, and that many don’t start out in the career field of their choice.

As I went through the motions of graduating, I was on the fence about that issue.

In one aspect I felt confident in my decision and future pursuits, but on the other hand I always wondered what else life had in store for me.

I came here a somewhat shy, curious and hesitant girl, and what I found here in Sidney is determination, a great opportunity and amazing people.

Although I will be staying in Sidney for a while, putting in my two weeks at this paper yesterday was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life.

What weighed on my mind the most was giving up on what I had previously chose to succeed in, and deciding to travel the less-sought-after path.

But one thing that I did always tell myself is no matter what I’m doing, I want to be happy (something I’ve addressed in previous columns.)

Though rumors may spread, I am leaving my current position for ME.

I am leaving because I have found that the newspaper lifestyle is not for me. I applaud graciously those that continue to do their best to provide news to people who are appreciative and unappreciative.

They work hard to provide news to the world to keep people informed, and my personal opinion is an informed world is a better place.

People talk about news outlets being biased. That is why I go back to my recorder after every meeting and every interview and write down word-for-word what a speaker said.

My work was for me to write and for the reader to create their own opinion based off of the facts I presented.

Even in “biased” news outlets, information is being represented and most people are set in their ways and will choose to believe the information or not.

Regardless, I respect those in the paper business who strive to inform citizens of this country and others as best as they can.

When I made my decision I felt as though I would be heavily judged by community members here, as well as friends and acquaintances back home.

I figured people would say I don’t have any work ethic, I failed, I don’t have a backbone, I don’t understand hard work, etc., and maybe I’m right.

But my boyfriend told me not to care about what anybody else thought, which is something my father also tells me almost on a daily basis.

As I started as a reporter here in December I had the mentality that I was extremely lucky to have the chance to get my start in the newspaper business and that a great opportunity was laid out before me.

I still have that same mentality about the opportunity today.

But right off the bat, I felt as though I had made a mistake. Not a mistake in getting in a car, driving to Nebraska and beginning a career, but choosing the profession I did in the first place.

Just to explain my indecisiveness skills, I began as a freshmen at Washington State University taking classes for both becoming an agricultural education teacher and a criminal investigator because I couldn’t decide on one or the other.

With my interest in both of those career ideas dwindling as I approached my sophomore year, I dived headfirst in psychology and English classes.

At the end of my college career I had taken enough classes in each of those fields to earn a minor in both.

Being told by multiple people in my life that I could not sustain myself on creative writing or an extremely hard to come by psychology job, I decided to figure out a way to use my writing in a more practical career field.

I chose journalism.

Although my appreciation of the career field will never falter, I have decided that it is not my calling.

“It’s not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What’s hard, she said, is figuring out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things you really care about,” said author Shauna Niequist.

Hannah Van Ree can be contacted at [email protected].