Your lacklustre job… and your mental health.

You’re working as a nurse at the bedside, crunching numbers as an accountant for another ungrateful boss, or putting in $3.68 in the cash register while the idiot behind your customer is screaming because,“Service is too slow!”

How does it feel knowing you are not living up to your potential?

There has to be a point where you say, “Enough is enough!”

There has to be a point where you say to yourself, “I can’t live like this anymore!”

How many more years are you willing to commute to a meaningless job day in and day out, do meaningless tasks, have meaningless conversations with people that you may not even like, and may even feel compelled to do another overtime shift because, “We are like a family here, please do me this one favour?”

Now some of you reading this may be saying, “I can’t afford to quit!”, “I have kids and need to feed them!”, “Everyone around me is going to be disappointed if I leave my career!” or “I or my parents spent so much money and time on my education!”

However, I counter with these ideas.

There is never a right time to quit.

If anyone has been following the news from late 2021 to recently, you will notice that people have been quitting in a mass exodus known as the Great Resignation. The reasons range from not enough paid time off, not enough wages to pay their basic bills, not enough time with their family and friends, being undervalued at work, and the list goes on.

People are starting to realize that their lives are more important than working a 9-5, a 12 hour shift, or even worse, being called on your day off to deal with administrative issues.

“I have kids and I need to feed them!”

I totally understand this point and I am truly happy for people that sacrifice for their family day in and day out keeping a roof over their heads, sending them to school, buying them the best of everything and barely getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep. However, have you ever really thought about how your children truly feel about you working all the time? Don’t you feel that your children would love to spend more time with you at home? Don’t you think that if you found something that genuinely enjoyed doing, your children would reap the benefits of what you provide for them materially, and your joy? Wouldn’t you have the added bonus of having more energy?

“Everyone is going to be disappointed in me if I leave my career!”

There is a quote that says, “People that matter don’t mind, and people that mind don’t matter.” It's still debatable on who actually said this quote.

Family and friends are well meaning when they convince you to stay in your job. They want you to think about the health insurance, and your salary. The problem comes in when you have not identified your own values and hide behind others values. Maybe you did not even know you had values. Who says they have any real values of their own? Observe the people around you. Have they made any of their goals happen? Are they in debt because they are trying to keep up with everyone else? Are they happy?

We also have the issue of health insurance. I totally understand that people need health insurance to take care of their children’s medical issues. Actually, there are a lot of legitimate issues that people need health insurance for. But let’s also look at how out of shape you are, because you have no time to exercise due to your job. Are you depressed waking up in the morning before your shift? Are you anxious before going to bed? How much do you dread Sundays? How much do you complain about work AFTER work with your friends? How much of your blood pressure problems, muscle tension, depression, anxiety and panic attacks are related to work? How much medication do you think you would really need if you were less stressed doing a job you hate?

“I or my parents spent so much money and time on my education!”

The generation of millennials and Generation X have been served a double edged sword. We enjoy the best of technology, and also bear the brunt of the high cost of living. We have better access to education and we are paying sky high student loans. We want to live the Instagram lifestyle, but have to also deal with our mediocre lives once we close our apps. That money that you or your parents spent on your education to get to your current job is not a waste unless its making you cry all the time. If that education that got you that six figure salary job is causing you to curse out your children every night, drink and smoke your problems away, I'm not sure it has really paid off. When you barely have time to massage your feet because you have been working for sixteen hours on your feet, I wonder if that education is worth it, especially if its not leading you to feel fulfilled.

So how can you fix this?

1. Identify your values.

Only you can do can decide what is most important to you and truly live by them. Do you enjoy learning? Do you enjoy humour, do you enjoy playfulness? Consistency? Autonomy? Consider getting a journal and start to write out your ideas on what your values are.

2. Try out new things you have been too afraid to try.

This is my first article and I am aware of my limitations. I also know that writing is something I thought would be nice to do. I suck at drawing, and calligraphy but I do it because they are fun activities. They don’t need to be full blown careers yet! Try them out as hobbies, and don’t be afraid to drop them if they no longer interest you.

3. Be flexible.

If you have made this far in the article, I know there are some points that you may not agree with and that’s okay. But again, you made it this far because I know you have the ability to be flexible. Understand that life does happen, and you will need to ride the waves when bad things happen. We are all still living in a pandemic, and we have no choice but to be flexible. We never know when the rules of society will change based on how fast the variant spreads. We can choose how we handle these situations by accepting things as they are, and working around or through these situations by becoming adaptable.

Whoa! So now what?

Jordan Peterson said, "It's a luxury to find what makes you happy but it's a moral obligation to pursue what you find meaningful."

Understand that you matter. Every moment that you sacrifice being unhappy is another moment you cannot get back. The energy that you put in to a job that you hate creates pain, and keeps you on a hamster wheel. Take what you want from this article and leave the rest, but you do owe it to yourself to at least attempt to live a better life.