Tag: kmvt

2024, A Day In The Life Of Liz, Idaho, journalism, Reporter, Twin Falls

And just like that…

elizabethjoyhadley

My final day at KMVT

On June 17, 2019 I walked into KMVT for the first time. I was 22 years old, naive, young, incredibly nervous and incredibly excited to grow and learn as not only a journalist, but also a person. 

Here we are, July 19, 2024. It’s been 5 years and one month since that fateful day. 

Today is another fateful day. Today is my last day at KMVT. 

When I finish anchoring the noon today, that will be it. 

That will be the last time I ever anchor a show at KMVT. 

Today I feel many emotions. I’m thankful for my growth the past 5 years. I’m grateful for all of the relationships and memories I made the past 5 years. I’m also nervous, I’m nervous to move into the next part of my life. As far as my professional career goes, being a journalist is all I’ve known. But, I’m also excited, I’m excited to have more work/life balance, I’m excited about my new job, and I’m excited to see what life throws at me now. 

As I often do when I need to reflect on my time somewhere, I write. 

I write how I feel, I write what I learned, and I write what I am hoping for moving forward. Writing has always been my way of organizing my thoughts and feelings, and whether or not you read this, I always feel better after I write. 

So, Here are the top 10 biggest lessons I learned over my past 5 years. 

10: All change and all good things happen at the local level. Small communities, small groups of people, non-profits, etc. is what makes this world go around. Many times over the past 5 years I have done stories on groups of people who really care about said topic and are just doing their best to make the world better in that small piece of the world. Those types of people and local communities like that is where all change begins. Which means, we can all make a difference. And a small difference is never small. 

9: Life is so precious. I have done many heartbreaking stories on lives cut short from tragic accidents, houses burning down, a wildfire tearing apart a community. Life is so so precious and the sad part is you never know when it’ll be your last day. When I do stories like that, it puts my life into perspective and makes me realize that all the things I worry about, don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. 

8: Knowing the above, you have to spend time with people you love and doing the things you love. When I first moved to Idaho, I pretty much gave up my entire life for my career. I stopped doing all the things I loved, never saw all the people I loved, and my entire life revolved around my job. When I realized I didn’t want that life for myself anymore, my entire perspective changed. How good you are at your job is never what people are going to remember about you when you pass away. 

7: Making mistakes is how you learn. I truly believe that the best teacher in life is experience. Nobody is good at something right away, but as long as you keep trying and keep working hard, eventually, the things that were hard won’t be hard anymore. But, man, the middle part is really really hard. 

6: Life is hard. If there is one thing I repeated to myself many times over the past 5 years it’s how hard life is. Life is hard, it can kick you down, keep you down, and sometimes keeps throwing you more curve balls. But, here’s the thing, humans are really strong and really resilient. When COVID first hit, I was forced to work in my tiny studio apartment in a town I had only lived in for 9 months. And that lasted for almost a year. I kept thinking how it wasn’t fair and I wanted to quit. But, I didn’t. It’s okay to admit that something is hard, but it’s not okay to give up. Just say to yourself everyday, “this is really hard for me, but I’m going to try my hardest to do my best.” That’s what I did every day. 

5: Nothing can replace the magic of time. I remember thinking one day how suddenly things didn’t feel so bad anymore. I started to wonder what changed, and I realized that nothing really did, the only thing that changed was the amount of time that has passed. The amount of time I had spent working on my skills and myself. Time passes every day and for the most part you don’t notice anything is different, until one day it is. 

4: Everything is YOUR choice. Stay with me here, so life is hard right? We all know that. It is hard. But, here’s the thing, we all have the power within us to decide how we are going to react, handle, and what we are going to do next. That’s our power within us every day. Every decision is ours, and you can decide to change your path if it isn’t right for you anymore. 

3: The world needs more love. Many days after work, I have thought how there is so much hate in this world, and so much sadness, so many hard things that people are going through. And unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do about most of it. But, what I can do is show love and kindness to everyone I know. And try to show them grace, and understanding, and try to meet them where they are. I can try to do that. 

2: It’s not about the end goal, it’s about the journey along the way. The second biggest lesson I have learned over the past 5 years, and perhaps the biggest way I have changed personally is, I was always so focused on accomplishing the next goal, the next dream, the next thing I wanted to do. I’ve always been like that. But, I realized, then what? So you accomplish the goal, and then what? I still won’t be happy. Because happiness isn’t about any of that. It’s just not. It’s about the journey and the path and all of the people you met along the way. It’s the stories you’ll tell for years to come, and the people you’ll never forget. I always thought that I’d be happy someday. I’d be happy when. But, now I know, I can be happy now, because it’s my choice, it’s my decision, and it’s not about any of the other factors. 

1: It’s never too late, and you’re never too old. And finally, this is what I’ve been repeating in my head the past few months as I’m about to start an entirely new career. At first I thought, I didn’t want to give up all my hard work I put in at my current career, but then I realized, I can just transition all the things I know to the new one. It’s a shame to not do things because you think you’re too old, or it’s too late in life. It’s never too late to do something that might give you fulfillment. There are people who always wanted to publish a novel and finally did it in their 50’s. There are people who changed their entire career in their 60’s. IT’S NEVER TOO LATE AND YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD to change your life. 

I’ll leave it there, but in reality, I could continue. 

The past five years have changed my life in every possible way. I could write a book about it. Who knows, maybe I will?

And as I move forward and start this next chapter, I’m excited to reflect in 5 years about how far I continue to grow as a person, and I make this promise to myself and I close this chapter. 

I vow to never stop learning, never stop growing, and never stop reflecting on who I am and why I am the way I am. 

I vow to contribute to the world every day, especially in the small ways. 

I vow to love the people in my life fully and purposefully. I vow to own up to my mistakes and learn from them.

I vow to enjoy every day and to decide every day to make the choices that are right for me. 

Thank you for the past 5 years of growth, learning, self development, and everything in between.

I’ll see you around. 

2022, A Day In The Life Of Liz, College, Idaho, journalism, Reporter, Twin Falls

WHAT I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I MOVED ACROSS THE COUNTRY AT AGE 22 TO BE A NEWS REPORTER

elizabethjoyhadley

When I decided to move to Idaho after college, I was excited. I was scared, but I was excited… It was a good job, I had just graduated college, and I thought I was ready for this next chapter in my life.

I was so wrong. 

Now, I’ve been here for almost 3 years and I was thinking how much has changed since I began that cross country drive. 

Not only is the world a different place, but I am as well. 

And I can honestly say, even though it has undoubtedly been the hardest thing I’ve ever done, it’s also been the absolute best decision I’ve ever made. 

It’s so hard to see that so much of who you are, and the things you believe, are solely because of the people you surround yourself with. 

“You are the sum of the people you surround yourself with” 

I believe this with my whole heart. If you are around negative, mean people, you will become one too. But if you are around people who support you and lift you up, that’s who you’ll become. 

But when you move away, and you’re all alone, you get to decide who you surround yourself with, and what type of person you want to be. And not because it’s what everyone else thinks you should be doing, but simply because you know it’s what is right for you. Sometimes, you are only friends with people because you’ve always been friends with them… not because they are adding anything to your life. 

So that’s number one, whether you need to move away to figure this out or not: 

SPEND TIME WITH PEOPLE WHO FILL YOUR CUP, AND SPEND TIME DOING THINGS THAT BRING YOU JOY… 

Number two: 

BE PREPARED TO BE LONELY…

The only reason I moved here was for my job, and although now I have a lot of other hobbies and people and things going on in my life, that was not the case right away. 

I was so lonely, the only people I knew were from work. I missed the familiarity of my room, my friends and my family. 

But, in a way… that’s nice, because I got to decide what I liked doing, and what I didn’t. I got to figure out what type of person I wanted to be and what types of things I wanted to do.

It’s ironic, because now, I LOVE being alone. Please just give me 20 minutes after work to myself, I need to decompress. 

Third: 

IT’S GOING TO BE HARD…

I mean, working in journalism doesn’t pay a lot… at all, so not only will you be in a place that is new, and you will be lonely, but you will also be poor. 

You also will be learning how to succeed at your job and let me be honest… you will be bad at it, very bad.

You will make mistakes, and you will be lonely, and you won’t have a lot of money… so yeah, it’s going to be really really hard. 

But, that leads me to Number four: 

REMEMBER WHY YOU WANTED TO GO INTO THIS FIELD/PROFESSION ETC… 

On my worst days, when I would go home and cry and just want to give up, I didn’t… 

For a lot of reasons, mostly because I believe life is hard, and if you can’t handle hard days, that’s on you. 

“Life is tough, my darling, but so are you.”

I love telling stories, I love meeting new people and hearing about them and why they are the way they are. I love meeting people and thinking to myself, you are doing exactly what you were put on this earth to do. 

I love it, and the good days far outweigh the bad… but it is hard, it’s so very hard. 

Wow, already on number five: 

ACCEPT THE FACT THAT YOUR LIFE ISN’T ALWAYS GOING TO GO HOW YOU PLANNED IT: 

I’m not going to lie, I had a plan in my head when I moved to Idaho, to finish my two year contract and move on to another station… I always wanted to be a head anchor at a big station… but almost three years later, and I’m still here. 

There are a lot of reasons why I chose to stay, but it really all comes down to the fact that you can have all these goals and plans and dreams for your life, but then things happen, and they change. 

For example: 9 months into me living here, COVID-19 hit and I was forced to work from home. 

I believe that “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.”

So, yes I wasn’t expecting to move to Idaho and like it, I wasn’t expecting to move to Idaho and meet my boyfriend, I wasn’t expecting to move to Idaho and for the entire world to shut down. But, it did. So what am I going to do about it? 

Which is another reason why I think it’s good to be alone, and it’s good to be somewhere where no one else is impacting your decisions on how you react to it. Because you know it’s going to be your choice, and no one else’s. 

Which leads me to number six: 

TRUST YOUR GUT: 

No one knows you like you. 

So, when you are alone, and you feel in your heart or soul or gut that something isn’t right, listen to it, don’t take anyone else’s opinions into the matter, just listen to yourself. You know what feels right to you, and you know what the right choice is… you always will. 

Seven: 

HOLIDAYS NEVER GET EASIER: 

It just sucks to work on holidays, there is no easy way to say that. We all do it, and we all hate it. The only bright side is, the people at the station will understand what you are going through on those days, and they will help you get through them. 

Eight:

IT JUST TAKES TIME: 

Everything takes time, it takes time to feel like you belong, it takes time to feel like you are good at your job, it takes time to make friends, it just takes time. 

But while it’s hard, and while it seems like it’s never going to get any better, embrace that… embrace the hard… embrace the days where you mess up, learn from those mistakes, and don’t do it again… be a little better every day. 

Life seems long, but it’s really not, and your job, your money, your “success” none of that matters in the end, I believe that with all my heart. 

I can tell you with absolute certainty that what people remember about you isn’t any of that, it’s all about who you are, and how you made those people feel about themselves, and what you did for them that matters, I promise. Who you are… deep into your core, is the most beautiful thing of all. 

So if you’re still reading this, I hope it helps you. I hope some senior in college about to move across the country for his/her first reporting job reads this and just remembers one piece of information, and maybe, just maybe it will help them. 

2020, A Day In The Life Of Liz, Idaho, Jackson, Reporter, Twin Falls

Celebrating 1 Year at KMVT

elizabethjoyhadley

1 Year ago on this very day, I started working at KMVT. I remember I was so nervous walking in that day, wanting to make sure I would make a good first impression.

It was the greatest decision ever to take this job, not only have I learned a lot about being a good journalist, but also about life.

Moving here was hands down the hardest thing I have ever done. I had just graduated college, and I left everything I had ever known and worked for to move here. I was lonely and sad, and some days I still am. But, most days I love it.

I used to be the type of person who was always working towards my next goal. Whatever I was doing wasn’t good enough, it could be better, I could be better. And while I still have goals and dreams, I have realized that if I live like that I will never be happy with where I am right now.

I love living in Idaho. It’s beautiful, the people are some of the nicest I have ever met, and there is so many fun things to do.

This job is stressful, there is so much that could go wrong, and I don’t want to do a bad job. But, the best thing that I ever could have done is plan ahead. I know I contradict myself, because I also say to live in the moment, but if you don’t plan ahead, you won’t get your work done in time, and make it in time for the shows.

I do miss my home in Massachusetts, but at the same time, I have made a home here, with people who I love.

The most important thing I have learned since moving here is everything works out. Maybe not what you imagined or pictured in your head, but sometimes even better. I love working here at KMVT News, and I love living here in Idaho, and I am excited to see what my future holds, but for now… I’m just going to be happy.