Is anyone else sick and tired of working?

[Pax]

Started working part time at 14 and have had a job ever since, 40 years now... and I'm tired of it. I've done fun and interesting jobs over the years, some have left me battered and a bit busted, but all in all (other than that short stint as a bank teller) I haven't hated my job.

I just want to not work from now on, do the things I enjoy doing, be with my honey.

[Helene2013]

Me! Me!

I like my job but not love it. It's ok. I've had better before but can't get that back. My team is GREAT, awesome boss, great salary but still. I only have about 5-6 years left before "early" retirement and it seems so far! I find the pressure to over perform, limited staff to do the tasks, etc. is taking a toll on many of us. Always having to do more with less - and seeing frivolous expenses done higher up and us with little increases, is sure not a good way to motivate! There will always be better than us, and worst.

The worst I think is having to get up at 4:15am for work. After so many years it is taking away all the fun of working too, I think.

Why does work have to be in the way of fun? Oh...I remember...to pay for fun things we want and packing money away for early retirement. hihi Seems the day will never get here. But it will. If I could go back in time, there a a lot of things I would not do again, just to have a better freedom of my time. I made choices in life, and now I have to stand by them and be patient a little bit more. hihi

Hang on Pax!!!!

[Crankin]

I thought I was sick of working until I stopped working.
I am very happy now, with a professional job that is flexible, and I work part time. However, I made a trade off for less income. Part of me wants to take all of the possible opportunities that come my way, but, I don't want to give up my free time. I couldn't have done this without a spouse who has a good income. As far as I can see, I will work at least part time until I can no longer talk and write, the 2 important skills in my profession. Heck, one of the therapists I work with is 81 and she is my role model. She travels a lot and is awesome.
I found that I could not just ride my bike all day and volunteering felt like slave labor to me.

[ny biker]

I used to like my job -- I've been here for 14 years. Lately I very much do not like it. On the other hand, if we lose the contract re-bid that is currently underway then I will be unemployed, and since I have put my mental effort into learning job-specific information rather than expanding my general programming skills, if I lose this job I will probably have a lot of trouble finding a new one.

I think I would be happier working part-time, but I think I will have to work full-time pretty much until I am no longer physically able to do so. I have been "saving for retirement" for years but the total in my accounts never seems to increase very much. Since I am/have always been single, my income is the only one in my household. I do not think I will ever be able to afford to retire.

I have friends who are retired and they are having a great time. Same with my parents. They travel, are involved with activities like cycling, kayaking, long walks in nearby parks, etc. I envy them but do not think I will ever be one of them.

[ny biker]

Not only do I not like my job right now, but I think it may be time to change careers. I am a software developer. There are changes being made in the overall process of how we work which I utterly despise. The changes do not mesh well with the way I plan my time and the way my mind works, and as a result things are falling through the cracks, things I used do right without problems. I am told that all companies are adopting these process changes, which tells me that merely looking for a different software development job will not solve the problem. I am 50 years old, single, one person in my household, one income to rely on, and I think I have to choose between starting over with a new career and being miserable. And I have no idea what a new career might be.

I'm pretty good at planning routes for bike rides, and I enjoy doing that. Unfortunately I don't think anyone will pay me to that for a living.

Sorry for the thread hijack, I just needed to get that off my chest.

[Veronica]

In general I like my job. But because so many teachers apparently need a lot of hand holding and someone looking over their shoulder ,we have A LOT of extra paperwork to keep us "accountable." We are all treated the same and that makes me angry. I have years of data to show that I am really good. The union won't let our administrators treat us differently. What is the point of being really good at my job? I get no extra benefits. I get the tough assignments and the difficult kids and I get all the extra bullsh!t because some teachers suck.

I'd really like to go part time. Life is short.

Veronica

[SheFly]

My DH "retired" a year and a half ago, and is really happy. In the meantime, I continue to hold down my full time job, carrying our living expenses, medical, etc. I don't HATE my job, and in fact, am finally returning to the company I have been contracted to for 2+ years as a full time employee (again). BUT, there are days when I am VERY envious of my DH... The good thing for me is that I work from home, and have a flexible schedule. I do, however, see an end in sight...

SheFly

[Helene2013]

I also tend to think that we (those in the 50s) are in what we call now 50 is the new 40. So we are in that phase now...rethinking the whole thing. haha

Same for me, I don't feel old at all, but I don't want to change career right now. Especially being closer to retirement. If I make a change, it would be then, and only because I feel like it and looking for a challenge on my own term.

I had the chance to take 2 summers off work about 7-8 years ago (in between permanent jobs). It was the best time ever I had. Hubby came home and had nothing to do. I cut the grass, took care of the house, etc. It was soooo much more fun. No stress, no commute. We had all our weekends with NO errands to do. But it did not pay the rent or would not if I had not gone back to reach our future goals. I never got bored either when I was home. No way.

[Pax]

No hijack ny biker,I think you're on to something. I'd be willing to but many of us would be happy to work, at least part time, if we were doing something we loved or that allowed us to follow our passion. If I were more creative I'd try the entrepreneurial route, see if that's more fulfilling.

[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.