The Bloggers With The Most To Say
Are you happy?
I started thinking about happiness and careers earlier this week, and whether or not it really matters to people. I'm a teacher, and I teach because it's my love and I can't imagine doing anything else. To me, it's worth it to wade through years of sporadic supply teaching as I know eventually I'll have a class of my own and achieve my own.
For others, that's not enough. If they have to work a little harder to get what they want, it's not worth it.
So, I got to thinking-- would you stay in a career you weren't happy in? Are you happy in your current job / career path? If not, why do you stay? At this point we're all still in our twenties and it's not too late...
...or is it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Angie on -
I believe in doing something you love. I am unemployed right now, however I am constantly working on my art. My dream career is to be a work from home artist, along with my wife, as we have always worked together and I would not work without her. I would also love to be a property manager, self storage manager or something along those lines as I would be my own boss and again, those are usually team jobs, where a married couple can work together.
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Permalink Reply by Jessica on -
This time last year my boss was trying to encourage me to apply for a much higher-paying job that was not at all the kind of work I wanted to do. (I explain more here.) I refused to even apply because it wasn't what I wanted to do. I had originally taken a job that wasn't exactly what I wanted to do either, but I'd found a way to take on the work I enjoyed in my spare time as a favor to that department.
A month later, she'd been able to have a new position created for me to do the work I wanted to do in that other department, and got me a substantial raise. Some time later, the position I would have applied for completely dissolved. I have no regrets about sticking to my guns because now I'm doing exactly what I love every day!
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Permalink Reply by Dave on -
I've been working my crappy job (gas station/convenience clerk) for quite a while now. I don't really want to be doing this forever, but the whole writing career hasn't really taken off yet. Where I come from, it's also kind of tough to find a job outside of factory work, so I stick with what works for me.
So I guess in terms of happiness, I'm being kind of unhappy right now, so I can be happier later, if that makes any sense.
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Permalink Reply by Shop Girl on -
That does make sense... as you're still working to achieve your goal. For me, I meet teachers all the time who have "settled" for this profession. At some point in their undergrad they realized they would need some type of graduate program to enter the work force and teacher's college seemed like the easy, logical decision. Only now--sometimes less than 5 years later--they are already unhappy but feel committed to the career.
So, why stay? Because you've chosen a career and now feel committed, or is it just fear of the unknown?
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