A Secure Job Vs Happiness - What's Better?

[Prometheus]

Stop drinking the Kool-Aid of the masses, dude.  No, you're not fucked up.  You just have a little bit of life left in you!

 

BurnedOut and William7Davis are right on the money: it's up to what is going to make YOU happy.  Fuck what everyone else says.  For some of those who posted above me saying that financial security is everything, well, obviously, they have different personalities and life goals than you have.  You can't expect to do what someone totally unlike you is doing and get exactly the same resulting happiness.  There are many different types of people.  Some are content to work the old 9-5, eat fast food, and play in softball leagues and watch movies on the weekends.  They're happy enough doing that, so more power to them.  Other people are restless, unable to put up with the same ol' same ol' for years and years on end.

 

So, which one are you?

 

There is one thing that I think most people who have gone through what you're going through would recommend: CHANGE SOMETHING.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Travel.  See the world.  Try something new.  If you're growing so bored of your office job that you have to post about it on an online forum asking for help, you must be doing something wrong!

 

Listen to what william7davis is saying: he could have left his job earlier, but by the time he had spent all those years in his position, it just wasn't worth losing all the benefits to change his career.  The earlier you take risks, the better.  Don't get caught in the trap—I think of it as more of a prison, but I'm extreme—of signing your life away to so-and-so company.

 

I remember working at one engineering company, and noticing how all the execs and higher-ups, despite their fat paychecks, job security, and insurance benefits, seemed to be totally and utterly depressed and have little to no personality left in them.  That was one of the reasons I left that job—and the entire industry.

 

I had this exact same conversation with one of my best friends last night on the phone.  He and I were both in exactly the same shoes you're in right now.  He's bartended and worked in the service industry for years, and has always had an itch to get out of that routine—even though he's making a good buck for himself right now.  And so was I, last year.  I had worked in the engineering industry, for 8 years.  8, long, boring, depressing YEARS of going to work in a grey, dismal cubicle with a bunch of absolutely uninspiring and burnt-out people.  I can't tell you how many times I was told by my superiors that I had "all this talent" in the engineering field and that I should go back to school for my engineering degree.  But I knew that if I did that, I would be signing my life away to more of the same.

 

So, I quit my job, sold ALL my stuff, and packed my bags... now I've been in Thailand for a few months, teaching at a school—TOTALLY unrelated to anything I'd ever dreamed of doing before!  I don't want to sound like a self-help ad, but I've honestly never felt this inspired.  I said "fuck you" to the man, and to those people who told me to "stay put", and I did my own thing.  Now, I'm still making money—maybe not as much as I was before—but I actually have the energy and inspiration to enjoy life more, which is just creating more positive energy with which to engage in my life.  And that kind of positive energy usually produces good things.

 

And I did all this with almost no savings.

 

I'm not saying you have to do what I did, but ask yourself: Which would you rather have—comfort and that steady paycheck?  Or are you willing to push the limits of your comfort zone and live a little?

 

Figure out what drives you, what motivates you.  For me, it was realizing that I needed more human interaction.  At the end of a day teaching hundreds of foreign teenagers, I feel more motivated to engage in life than I did after a day staring at a computer screen all day.

 

Best of luck to you, and remember, the best thing you can do is to stop listening to everyone else, and start listening to yourself.

 

Stop doing the same old thing.

 

PM me if you want more inspiration.

[Blood]

BurnedOut and William7Davis are right on the money: it's up to what is going to make YOU happy.  For some of those who posted above me saying that financial security is everything, well, obviously, they have different personalities and life goals than you have.  You can't expect to do what someone totally unlike you is doing and get exactly the same resulting happiness.  There are many different types of people.  Some are content to work the old 9-5, eat fast food, and play in softball leagues and watch movies on the weekends.  They're happy enough doing that, so more power to them.  Other people are restless, unable to put up with the same ol' same ol' for years and years on end.

 

So, which one are you?

 

There is one thing that I think most people who have gone through what you're going through would recommend: CHANGE SOMETHING.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Travel.  See the world.  Try something new.  If you're growing so bored of your office job that you have to post about it on an online forum asking for help, you must be doing something wrong!

 

Listen to what william7davis is saying: he could have left his job earlier, but by the time he had spent all those years in his position, it just wasn't worth losing all the benefits to change his career.  The earlier you take risks, the better.  Don't get caught in the trap—I think of it as more of a prison, but I'm extreme—of signing your life away to so-and-so company.

 

I remember working at one engineering company, and noticing how all the execs and higher-ups, despite their fat paychecks, job security, and insurance benefits, seemed to be totally and utterly depressed and have little to no personality left in them.  That was one of the reasons I left that job—and the entire industry.

 

I had this exact same conversation with one of my best friends last night on the phone.  He and I were both in exactly the same shoes you're in right now.  He's bartended and worked in the service industry for years, and has always had an itch to get out of that routine—even though he's making a good buck for himself right now.  And so was I, last year.  I had worked in the engineering industry, for 8 years.  8, long, boring, depressing YEARS of going to work in a grey, dismal cubicle with a bunch of absolutely uninspiring and burnt-out people.  I can't tell you how many times I was told by my superiors that I had "all this talent" in the engineering field and that I should go back to school for my engineering degree.  But I knew that if I did that, I would be signing my life away to more of the same.

 

So, I quit my job, sold ALL my stuff, and packed my bags... now I've been in Thailand for a few months, teaching at a school—TOTALLY unrelated to anything I'd ever dreamed of doing before!  And I've never felt this fulfilled.  I said fuck you to the man, and to those people who told me to "stay put", and I did my own thing.  Now, I'm still making money—maybe not as much as I was before—but I actually have the energy and inspiration to enjoy life more, which is just creating more positive energy with which to engage in my life.  And that kind of positive energy usually produces good things.

 

And I did all this with almost no savings.

 

I'm not saying you have to do what I did, but ask yourself: Which would you rather have—comfort and that steady paycheck?  Or are you willing to push the limits of your comfort zone and live a little?

 

Figure out what drives you, what motivates you.  For me, it was realizing that I needed more human interaction.  At the end of a day teaching hundreds of foreign teenagers, I feel more motivated to engage in life than I did after a day staring at a computer screen all day.

 

Best of luck to you, and remember, the best thing you can do is to stop listening to everyone else, and start listening to yourself.

 

PM me if you want more inspiration.

 

That's a pretty inspirational story. I'm glad you took the risk and it paid off for you. 

[Vigile]

now I've been in Thailand for a few months

 

Yeah, Thailand baby...  I spent 6 months there last year myself.  Great place to get away and adjust your perspective.  I fell in love with the country. 

 

[Fweethawt]

 

Vigile,

Putting a gun in your mouth would only make you talk funny. Plus you run the risk of chipping your teeth. That just sounds like a silly way to approach things to me.

:-)

 

 

How clean is that gun? If it goes into my the mouth it's gotta be clean.

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take whichever gun you get.

[Ravenstar]

I've kicked off the security thing, because it really isn't 'secure' as Florduh said.

 

But being broke sucks too. However, I don't dread getting up and facing another horrid day at a job I despise. Maybe I'm more of a risk taker though. I am open to finding a part time job to supplement my creative endeavours.

 

If the 'perfect' job came up, I might take it, but at the moment I am experimenting with being self-employed. I'm giving myself a year to make it work, to the point where I'm comfortable. I don't really need much, but I do want the means and time to travel. So that's my main goal, to create a career/business that gives me freedom and allows me to be creative, yet I can still afford that latte in a Belgium café.

 

I know, big dreams… but if not now, when?

 

I just received a commission (yay!!!), like 10 minutes ago, to write article content for a website on an hourly basis. Always risky but I'm willing to work for 4 days for them and see if they actually pay the invoice. (yes, I did get a deposit - but still - good thing I know the ins and outs of my copyrights).

[Bhim]

I would take job security.  Happiness is at best fleeting, and a person needs a job.  If I knew my job was secure, even if it were not a great job, that would contribute a lot to my happiness.  I have a great capacity to adjust to routine, boredom, and difficult people.

 

I definitely would agree with this (and I too adjust to routine…indeed I thrive on it).  Having a job you like is great, but any job is better than no job.

 

This is something I've thought about a lot in the past, and recently.  Around third year of graduate school I started despising what I did, since I felt that it was impractical and wouldn't lead to a permanent job.  Yes, I got bored doing astrophysics.  To most on this forum that would be unimaginable.  Fortunately in my later years of grad school I really got into my research and regained my enthusiasm for my job.  Which just goes to show that happiness can be fleeting.

 

I recently faced this scenario again since I just graduated last month.  During my job search I was applying to postdoc positions (a highly enjoyable but very low-paying and insecure job which would let me continue doing astrophysics) and software developer jobs (which would suck, but pay a lot and be more stable).  I got lucky and found a scientific/research job in industry, which has the best of both worlds, but for awhile there I was wondering whether I cared more about job security or stability.  If I hadn't gotten this new industry position and were faced with the choice right now, I think I would have gone with a postdoc over a software job.  So I guess I'd chose personal fulfillment over stability.

 

BUT, that's not quite the same as what you're dealing with, Mike.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like you just want to get up and quit your job.  In this economy I'd highly recommend against it.  You do have the ability to keep working at your current job and start looking for new jobs.  Because as someone who just got done with a job search, let me remind you that it's really hard to find a job.  Please don't ruin your life by quitting without considering your options.

[supernova999]

Mike D, 

 

I am going through the same thing now, so I  am glad you posted!  It has really helped to hear other people's perspectives.

[JadedAtheist]

Mike, I worked for several years in a job that I truly hated. I actually started feeling the dread you feel on Saturdays because Sunday was the day before I had to start working. I literally enjoyed Friday nights and Saturdays only during most of that period. I can tell you that  having had other jobs after that, and despite even being without a job and being poor and in debt after that period, I would still rather poverty and the stress associated with it than being unhappy and financially secure. It's part of the reason I've gone back to university to study, I was working in an environment that was really good, but the work itself was boring and I could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life and I just thought of how I felt in that shitty job, and that was enough for me to decide to leave it.

 

Now, for me I have fairly transferable skills so it's not too much of an issue but if I recall correctly, you work in the entertainment business or something so depending on what you do you might be pretty fucked when it comes to finding something else to do since your skills may be quite specific to that industry, but despite that; I still highly, highly recommend to GTFO before you off yourself.

[JadedAtheist]

Thinking about it, I would also add that the situation here in Australia is drastically different than in the US when it comes to job security in that every job here has job security, it's very hard to fire people here unless you basically did some real serious shit so I never have to really chose between job security and something else, since job security is a given in each job. 

[ApostateAwoken]

Done properly, I think you can have both.

 

I'm absolutely in love with music and especially the piano, but obviously making a full-time living off of piano would be insanely difficult and there's no guarantees. So I decided that I wanted to be a nurse instead as I like helping people and that certainly offers job stability.

 

But the more I thought about it, the more I decided that nursing truly was just resigning myself to security, and that's when I discovered music therapy, which is a blend of my favorite things; music, helping others, psychology, medical stuff, etc. Now that's what I plan to major in. 

 

If you choose a secure job, you can feed your hobby, even if it's expensive. For example, there were some fantastic drawings by a lawyer I saw online, who would doodle in his spare time. The portraits looked like people. Or you could take the chance following your dreams. It's up to you.