Is anyone else sick and tired of working?

[thekarens]

I pretty much have despised my job for the last 24 years, but it pays well, has flexible hours and 5 weeks of vacation each year. If I could go it again I'd go in a totally different direction. I think I could take a pay cut if I LOVED my job, but that ship has sailed. It's why I've told both my boys to pick a profession you can love.

A good share of our company has the opportunity to work at home. Unfortunately our department does not participate in that. If it did it would probably reduce my stress by 50%. Houston traffic sucks.

[ny biker]

When my job moved last year and my commute became longer, I thought about asking to work from home one day per week. But then winter kicked in, and I ended up working from home almost that often because when you combine the traffic in this area with snow and ice, you get 8 hour epic commutes trying to get home, so it makes sense to just stay home. I was very productive, but over time I decided I did not like working from home. I think the problem is that my home is only a one-bedroom 711-square-foot condo, and I have to work in my living room. So I basically spend the whole day in one small space with no chance to get up and walk around. If I had a larger home where I could go to another floor or another part of the house and work in a home office, it would probably be better.

[VeganBikeChick]

I, too, have been working since age 14. That's 24 years of work for me now. I'm very tired of being a nurse. Long hours, no autonomy, often very thankless, and most of the time I feel like a glorified servant/waitress. I'm too young to feel this way! So over the summer I enrolled in grad school to study as a family nurse practitioner. Tons of autonomy, better hours, and I won't have to work any more nights, weekends or holidays. Hoping these two years pass quickly. Hugs to everyone else not enjoying their jobs.

[rebeccaC]

VeganBikeChick….congrats on going for nurse practitioner!!!!...two years is going to pass in any case, might as well be a nurse practitioner at the end.


I’m happy with my job but then it’s my first post college full time one. I’ve always chosen work that could motivate me in positive ways though. Hopefully that can continue. I try to learn new or reinforce existing positive strategies for dealing with things that go wrong, especially those that can produce stress and less performance in my work. That’s also how the woman I work for is and how I try to be with my 4 person team. The reason I took my job was how that woman's approach to work made me feel in the interview.....and the salary/benefits are pluses. She started the company in her early 40's and is a good role model for me.....perhaps I'll start one sooner than that. I’d say we are all on a learning journey…….just want to make mine as positive as possible while getting a good sense of accomplishment and intellectual stimulation.
I’m easy…

Hugs to everyone else not enjoying their jobs.

YES!!!!

[Crankin]

When I was a teacher, I experienced the same issues as Veronica. However, my last 4 years in AZ I participated in a merit pay program, and eventually became a teacher leader in it. It added about an extra 10K a year to my salary, at a time we really needed it. Yes, I had to produce a portfolio, but I had the evidence. When I moved here, I became a National Board certified teacher, which was almost as hard as passing my licensing exam to become a therapist. The state paid me 50K over 10 years for achieving this. This paid for my older son's college education. I also became a mentor. I never passed up any opportunity for professional development, was involved in a Spencer Foundation Grant about teaching writing, and several other things. I started the process to become a principal, but by that time, I realized I didn't really want that crap to deal with, and I was making about 70K a year, which is about the starting salary for principals, unless you get a job in a prestigious district right outside of Boston. Since I did not go to an Ivy League school, that was not going to happen. When my younger son joined the military, I lost the need to continue teaching for a few more years. We had been living on DH's salary for quite a while and using mine to pay for college and save. If I had not moved out of state after 13 years of teaching, and withdrawn my contribution to the pension (which we needed to buy a house in MA), I could have retired with my full pension, as I had been working for 30+ years. I also could have "bought back" the years, by paying the commonwealth 13K, but, I didn't. I pulled my $ out of the MA retirement system and reinvested it in the stock market. I've more than doubled it since 2007, and it's helped get us to our goal. Yet, it took me a long time to get used to no income/low income, even with a spouse who works at a good job. Money is power. I always used to keep the fact that on my salary, I could have done OK without a spouse. And I don't like thinking about what i would be making now, if I had stayed teaching. The thing is, I wasn't burned out; I thought I wanted to play, and what I found was I didn't know anyone as young as I was who wasn't working, and I felt like I had no meaning in my life.
I really love my job and I love the flexible schedule even more. I even loved going to grad school for 3 years. If I had done this 10 years earlier, I would definitely open my own practice, but I have no stomach for the business end of that now. My DH is 3 years younger than me, and is probably going to work 7 more years, to maximize our retirement income. We do plenty of fun things already, so no complaints here. My dad worked until about 2 years ago, up until age 87. My grandfather was 91 when he died, and had a very successful career as a scrap metal dealer right up until the day he died. His colleagues kept asking him when he was going to quit, so they could get his clients. He didn't even start to make a lot of $ until he was past age 65.

[shootingstar]

I like my job where I am so far....I say so far, because the game-changer would be organizational changes/change in leadership ranks later, if/whenever that happens. I always thought I would like to complete my full-time career by working in the final decade or so, in the non-profit sector/govn't and so that's where I am now. I've had my experience in several private firms --medium, national and global firms which I'm really grateful to provide more intelligent internal consultation when working in govn't. (I have also worked previously in govn't, for 2 other provincial jurisdictions.) So things have worked out well, experience wise and learning opportunities. I've worked in my career after university for the last 31 yrs. I've been unemployed twice --lst time 3 months, 2nd time 18 months. I prefer to work while still under 65, at a job I enjoy. I wish I could retire early but have never worked for an employer long enough to build up sizable employer backed pension. However I don't regret learning so much after working for a diverse set of employers and across different industry sectors.

My partner retired (early) over a decade ago and yes, I can see up close what it means to dive into passions and offer up some expertise....as well, as also go on long cycle touring rides solo (he does, but I don't quite see myself comfortable doing many consecutive weeks of solo bike touring...maybe several days for a trip).

In response to Crankin, who indicated that retirement volunteer work might feel like slave labour. I know what you mean but for non-profit organizations that have no budget and are just coalescing as an entity, this is an area of greatest need. This is the capacity my partner has worked. Right now, he is riding high...he loves facilitating groups on organizational visioning, business planning and understanding market needs. Right now he is building momentum at the grass-roots level on marketing of British Columbia as a cycle touring destination . So it means meeting businesses, govn't authorities, etc. and yes, getting funding for some pilot projects.

He is also providing business advice to his son on establishing his sandwich, butcher shop...which means hours of advice to son on contract analysis/negotiation and financial modelling. Dearie is also handling all the book-keeping to help son save service fees. His son is VERY lucky to get this level of business (MBA-backed) expertise from father for free. For the first time, his son finally realizes what his father did in part of his paid career! (Bring kid to work day, doesn't educate a kid much, if parent's job is primarily intellectual and lots of writing, meeting people, etc.) I think dearie is addicted..he loves looking at the daily sales on e-commerce site when son's shop closes. Dearie rides his bike on errands to pick up supplies for his son's shop, loves being at the farmers' market stall for his son's business, etc. This year, he was unable to do lengthy cycle tours because of his volunteer commitments.

So yea, certainly giving expertise to a loved one to jump start the next generation....can be satisfying "volunteer" work.

What do I desire to do when I retire? I know partially already, because some of it I do already, but can't do it a lot due to full-time job: cycling, art, blogging. I haven't figured out volunteer work and am not concerned right now. I've done volunteer work for organizations for 5 years stretches each in race relations+immigrant matters & cycling.

I hope to work only up to 65 yrs.full time. If an interesting part-time and temporarily job that's not stressful, comes up...great. If not, I'm not banking on it. So finances have to be figured out properly now..

Note: The cycling advocacy world tends to attract well-intentioned, passionate folks ... some who may lack business strategic planning and consistent business execution on plans. This is where expertise and real work in the non-profit organizations with no budget (except for membership-based budget) may be needed the most.

[emily_in_nc]

I am so so so happy that I was able to retire at age 50. Had also worked since age 15 (12 if you count paid babysitting jobs!) and was just so read to get out of the commuting traffic grind, always doing what someone else wanted me to do (rather than what I wanted to do), constantly shifting and changing priorities, and adapting to ever-faster-changing technology (I too was a software developer). I loved MOST of the people I worked with but had been very tired of the general work environment, low morale, more work with fewer people, constant fear of layoffs and seeing so many good people and friends get the ax for over a decade before I was finally able to say "Buh-bye".

I miss some of my co-workers (though most of them are no longer "there" either), but have never missed the politics, meetings, commuting/traffic, and other junk that went with my role. I know I'm fortunate and am very grateful that I am financially able to do this. We never were able to have children and because of that, and investing as much as humanly possible in the early years, DH and I are able to have a comfortable (though not lavish) early retired lifestyle, travel, and do what we want to do, not what someone else decides we should be doing. We are truly blessed.

[Jolt]

I, too, have been working since age 14. That's 24 years of work for me now. I'm very tired of being a nurse. Long hours, no autonomy, often very thankless, and most of the time I feel like a glorified servant/waitress. I'm too young to feel this way! So over the summer I enrolled in grad school to study as a family nurse practitioner. Tons of autonomy, better hours, and I won't have to work any more nights, weekends or holidays. Hoping these two years pass quickly. Hugs to everyone else not enjoying their jobs.

Congratulations on going for NP! It's really a great job. I am an acute care NP and work on the inpatient side so I do work my share of nights, weekends and holidays but as an FNP working in a clinic you will most likely have normal hours. And, I really can't complain about my schedule either...I work 7 days on/7 days off (this is pretty typical for hospitalist groups) so I end up having lots of time to do other things including taking a trip out of town if I want during my week off. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[VeganBikeChick]

Thanks so much for the offer, Jolt! I'm very excited to be in the program, and glad I have a brain I can pick for questions relating to my practice.