Love what you do; do what you love

I realized just now, as I sat here working, how much I love my job. I'm technically off the clock (though, as a freelancer, I was able to knock off early, knowing I could come back to it at my leisure) but I enjoy writing so much that it doesn't feel like work. Reporting is the hard(er) stuff: researching a new topic almost every day, phoning or otherwise approaching total strangers, coming up with good questions and interviewing(that's not to say it isn't fun - just that it's a harder kind of fun). But the writing - that's the easy stuff. There are always tricky parts where you need to do a bit of finessing, but generally, when the rest of the work has been done properly, the writing is easy.

I just came off a year where I rarely enjoyed what I was doing. I loathed every moment I was expected to be available on e-mail outside of my facetime at the office. And I miss parts of getting out and going to an office, but I have found that I got so used to the stress of the last job that I now enjoy the complete absence of it. I will be walking down the street and realize I have little to no stress, and have not thought about anything ulcer-inducing in the past week, two weeks, whatever. For now, freelancing is grand.