Emily Crighton
Editor-in-Chief
Growing pains are a part of life. They mean you’re moving forward, but that doesn’t mean they are going to be fun. And that doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth it.
Growing should be constant, but I believe that there are milestones in life where a great deal of growing must take place in a very short amount of time.
College is one of those milestones.
I remember thinking there was no way I could go to the grocery store alone, no way I could survive taking 19 credits, no way I could work two jobs and go to school full-time.
Well, as they say, if there’s a will there’s a way. Now is no different.
Right now is painful. I find myself stretching my very soul to the point of ripping in half.
I am tired, I am overwhelmed and I occasionally fear for my sanity as I try, and sometimes fail, to balance my senior-level classes, my internship and this new position at the paper I so love.
Learning to lead this newspaper has tested my limits over and over, and this is only the third issue.
Luckily, growing pains aren’t permanent.
Starting something new is always hard, and it’s easy to forget that there was a time we fell down every time we tried to walk.
It’s easy to feel like things will never get better.
It can be extremely difficult to look for the light at the end of the tunnel when it takes all of your energy just to look down at your feet to keep yourself from falling flat on your face.
But as we progress, we adapt.
Things that felt impossible become ordinary and we come out stronger because of it.
Since becoming the “big bad boss lady” as my ad manager jokingly calls me, I’ve had staff members quit unexpectedly, had issues with payroll, dealt with several stories falling through at the last minute and my email inbox constantly reminds me I have 885 unread messages (I’m working my way through them, I promise.)
Rolling with the punches is a must, both in this job and in life.
I could be set in my ways and throw a fit every time something goes wrong, but where would that get me? Nowhere. What would that make me? Miserable.
My friend and previous editor Chris reminded me of this my first night sitting at the big desk, and it’s been extremely sound advice.
I’m learning that being a leader is far more than just calling the shots.
It means being someone my staff can come to with anything and making sure they all know I have their backs when they need it. It’s listening to concerns and addressing them to make for a better experience the next time around.
Sometimes it’s baking brownies as a small token of gratitude, despite looming schoolwork waiting at home.
I couldn’t do this job without the stellar staff I get to work with every day.
They’ve been merciful as I’ve tried to learn this job in a fraction of the time normally allotted, and pulled more than their share of the weight to make sure this paper is as good as it can be – even when things fall through.
I am grateful for growing pains, mostly because I know that I will grow out of them.
I know that things will become less alarming and foreign.
Soon I will be able to flex my new metaphorical muscles, because the phrase no pain, no gain is not solely applicable at the gym.
Growing pains remind us that we are changing and progressing. We have the opportunity to form ourselves into who we want to be.
Sometimes it’s not fun, and staying stationary sound like a far more comfortable and inviting option.
But college does not allow us to stay stationary.
Sometimes it makes us question our views, other times it makes us question our sanity.
Either way we begin learning that we cannot stay exactly how we were, even if it just means learning to be okay with going to the gym alone.
Think about who you were the day you graduated high school. Odds are you’re far from the person you were back then whether it was a few months or several years ago.
Be thankful for that. As college students we may have stopped getting taller, but we are far from finished growing.
