Cary's right, there is a place for you in journalism, you just have to find your niche. One of the things I love about being a business journalist is that I've never had to ask anyone how they felt when their child was killed in some senseless accident. Yes, I ask tough questions, but I feel that writing about how a CEO backdated his company's stock options is very different from speculating about whether Britney's marriage dissolved because Kevin Federline had an affair.

Another thing I've learned over the past 15 years: you can ask anyone almost anything if you phrase it the right way. Being a good journalist is mostly about listening, really listening to what a source has to say and then asking the right follow-up questions.

Construction workers don't like spending long hours outdooors in sub-zero weather. Doctors don't like losing patients, or telling a family a loved one will survive but not recover. Firefighters don't like sitting around the fire station, cleaning equipment or filling out reports. Soldiers don't like watching people die, or being responsible for killing them.

So it's all relative, all a balance of joy and sadness.

Cary wrote beautifully about making his own peace with the field so many of us love passionately yet painfully.

You can use your skills as a journalist to investigate other areas of interest you may have. That could lead to a new profession for you, or at least an area of journalism that will let you minimize the tension and conflict. You can write about entertainment, or become an entertainer. You can write about cooking, theology, science or travel. Maybe you are meant to write plays or novels.

Before you quit journalism, however, remember that overcoming the tension and conflict and fear and procrastination are part of what makes this all so exciting.

I run a community journalism website and one of my board members just wrote his first real news story, about a controversial new city council member. This is a small town with small controversies and I wouldn't have thought twice about writing the story. He worried and worried -- and was beside himself with joy when he posted the story and the tracker started showing how many people were reading it. The worry was gone.

So make sure your meds are working, force yourself to work through the stress and write the very best work you can, then frame it and hang it on your walls. When you look at it and no longer feel that rush of accomplishment, start writing -- your resume.

thinks that you, LW, should take heed of the Jesuit example: do what is right (or necessary), even if it is uncomfortable, until it becomes easy. This is not a macho approach (i.e., "Buck up and stop whining and get to work!"), despite how it might sound; it's really about forcing oneself to become better, despite the ingrained habits that one acquires over time. You shouldn't avoid the strife of sometimes asking unpleasant questions by simply quitting the field. Of course, not all strife is formative, and you may indeed wind up happier and more content by adjusting your career in journalism accordingly, as CT suggested.

You get good grades in J-school? Great. You've found something you're good at that's also productive and healthy; stick with it, and perhaps start thinking about exactly what field of journalism will fit best.

"I love journalism but I hate asking uncomfortable questions."

So become a Washington reporter. :^)

then be one.

being a journalist isn't about asking impertinent questions - it's about studying a situation, getting information, and dispassionately disseminating that information.

if you find yourself unable to do that, then yes, you should seek another career. believe me, you are not alone in not wanting to deal with other people in your day to day life - i hate to answer the phone, i loath meetings, i refuse to attend "optional" work gatherings - yet i am good at my job, and i maintain a professional presence.

you are. you do. do what you are, and be happy with it. there is no mystery to what you should be doing. it is as self evident as your existence.

LW, I enjoyed reading your letter very much. You're obviously a very good writer, and you seem like a sensitive person of integrity who would probably enjoy using his talents and skills to do some good. I think your ideal job is in the communications department of a non-profit organization whose particular aims mesh with yours. If it's finding cures for diseases, fighting hunger, encouraging people to give up smoking -- there are hundreds of causes that could use a first-rate communicator. Every newsletter article, brochure, director's speech, PSA or training video that you wrote or produced would be a source of pride and exhilaration. Good luck to you! (P.S. If non-profits aren't your thing, remember that every company on the planet needs corporate communicators to send out their good news.)

I'm an extremely shy person and I hate to ask probing questions, but in some ways this can be an asset for a journalist. When the subject of an interview sees me obviously struggling with a question, when I fumble and apologize and tell them I don't mean to be rude, it can soften them up so that when I finally do ask the damn question, they're less likely to blow up at me.

At the very beginning of my career I interviewed Johnny Rotten, and I arrived with all of these weird, very personal questions that my editor had suggested. I asked him if he wears a toupee and I got into all this stuff about his homelife, and I was such a mess that he took pity on me and answered my questions instead of going into a big Johnny Rotten tantrum. I think he found my awkwardness disarming. I'm not saying this was a great interview, but it WAS more personally revealing than a lot of his other interviews. So, if you feel like a creep when you're asking a question, try being honest about it. If the person blows up at you, you can always grovel and tell them you're really sorry for being so pushy, but then come around ask the question again.

Remember, you can always edit your question so it sounds much more concise that it really was!