A survey ranking journalist as the fifth-worst job to have in 2012 has been getting a lot of attention for the last few days, in case you haven’t noticed. The report, by CareerCast, says being a reporter at a newspaper, magazine or TV show is worse than waiting tables and only a tiny bit less lousy than working on an oil rig. Blame the combination of high stress and scarce career opportunities.

None of that changes the core fact here. For those who are cut out for it — and that’s definitely not everyone — journalism is a uniquely rewarding, wonderful career. Here are just a few of the reasons why.

You’re always learning. Remember how great college was? Every semester brought new topics, new professors, new ideas. Your brain got a workout. You could feel yourself getting smarter. Journalism is like that. You’re always building new mental muscles. You start out on a new beat or a new story as ignorant as a child, and within a few weeks or months you’re an expert. Wait, you didn’t like college? Don’t be a journalist. Problem solved.

You get paid to read a ton. Pretty much every journalist I know starts his day the same way: with a big cup of coffee and the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and a dozen or so blogs, either directly or filtered through Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I’m sure a lot of people with real jobs start their days the same way, but most of them have to do it before they get to work. Suckers.

You get paid to meet interesting people. Here are a few things I’ve done at FORBES in the name of journalism: gotten a lesson in Texas Hold ‘Em from a former pro poker player; watched a cartoonist for The New Yorker sketch comic ideas; gone jogging on the turf at Lambeau Field with the president of the Green Bay Packers; started a boycott against Mario Batali; got the creators of Words With Friends to explain why their game is so annoying. I’m sure waiters meet a lot of interesting people, too, but if they ask a lot of obnoxious questions they risk getting stiffed on the tip. I get a raise.

You get to meet celebrities. Note that I did not include this under “interesting people.” Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t, and often the interaction is too stage-managed and shallow to be able to tell. Sometimes they are big fat jerks who think you must care about meeting them more than you actually do. In any case, it’s nice for your mom to have something to brag about to her friends, since she probably won’t be bragging about how much money you make.

Maybe you even get to enjoy a little celebrity. Like meeting celebrities, going on TV can be fun and exciting, or it can be excruciating. We journalists aren’t all straight-up attention whores, but I have yet to meet one who doesn’t like having his or her work recognized. Hearing someone say, “Hey, I saw that thing you wrote quoted in the Times!” never, ever gets old.

All that “stress”? It’s called excitement. Well, not all of it. But tracking down a scoop on deadline, when the newsroom is buzzing with dozens of people doing the same — it’s an adrenaline rush. Plenty of jobs in this world offer the prospect of unrelieved boredom. I’d rather have one that gets my heart pumping.

Journalists get around. I’m not even talking about traveling, although most journalists get to do that every once in a while. I’m not a big racker-up of frequent flier miles, but I’ve been to conferences in Puerto Rico and Austin, two places I wouldn’t have made it to otherwise. On a day-to-day level, what matters more is that reporting is rife with chances to get up from your desk, get out of the office and stretch your legs. Don’t like staring at a glowing screen all day? Meet a few sources for coffee, do some man-on-the-street interviews or go cover a trade show. It’s often when you’re playing semi-hooky from the office that you’ll get your best stuff.

Have I convinced you that journalism is the only real career choice for curious, restless semi-narcissists like me? I hope not. There are enough of us already trying to do it. Go be a meter-reader.