I've been on my current job 14 years... The job before this one for 8 with two brief (couple of months each) jobs between. Essentially I'm doing the same work in different places with some slight variations.
When I quit the first job in this field I was totally burned out and wanted a change. Going into another field was not an option because I needed the money I was making where I had education and experience invested. My first move was out of the frying pan and into the fire. I went from a place where I was burned out but had good hours and was trusted and respected to workring for a nut that paid better for a reason... putting up with him and his crazy wife in the office. The work schedule was erratic, management was unprofessional...and at one point my check wouldn't cash... That was the end for me. Then I took a job in a huge corporation... lot's of being treated like a number and micromanaging.
So I felt fortunate to land where I am now. In my 14 years here I've had some moments of burnout... I just wait them out. I liken it to how long term marriage can feel... some days are diamonds and some are dust but if I am giving what I can there is always a way to eventually find satisfaction again.
Looking back I would have been better off to have stayed in my first job... I'd have nearly 25 years of seniority now and would be nearing possible early retirement. Instead I took and spent my 401K during a period of unemployment and lower wage earning after I left and had to start over... Now I will need to work probably an additional 10 or 15 years to make up for that.
If you are making a good wage and have good job security in the current climate you have gold... Maybe a change of attitude and gratitude would help?
Last edited by Titus2woman; 08-08-2013 at 06:49 AM.
Words of advice given to me years ago: Don't close the door behind you until the door in front of you is opened.
Love this! One caveat... one can not always know what is hiding behind door number 2. I actually looked really long and hard for a good job when I left my first job... It turned out that I should have been interviewing them instead of them interviewing me. If you go looking remember that. You have a good job, someone should be convincing YOU that you want to change. And whoever brought up vacation made a huge point... I went from 5 weeks a year of PTO to 1 week of PTO when I started over... Ugh, horrible!
Another option is go volunteer for a few weekends.... Find a group that goes out to homeless camps, we did & you will get a new outlook & appreciate life (even your boring job) SOOOooooo much more
It is so hard to make a change because you just don't know what you are going into. As they say, sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. I made a big change in my life last year with attempting to go to nursing school. I felt like it was God's will for my life and I learned a great deal about myself and others and found a job in my original field immediately after leaving nursing school over a change in policy, which was a God-send. I think I did what I was supposed to do. However, I have lost some things as well. It's too bad we can't pick and choose the good from all places.
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
I had yet another thought for you Jason... Have you considered starting your own business? I did that during a slump time at my husbands present job when he was sure he wanted out sooner rather than later... We bought a farm and began farming, using our higher earning potential to finance it.
We have just gotten to the point that Don could 'retire' to the farm as we're in a position to ramp up to replacing his income. That was a real possibility recently when he had surgery and it looked like he would not make it back before the end of his FMLA caused him to lose his job. Two things happened with that... We realized that we really do have the security of the farm and Don realized that he values his job and is not ready to leave it... More of the ebb and flow of burnout... right now the tide is out for him and he'd like to work a few more years.
Maybe start something small at home, involve family if you can (or make room for them when they are older) and just see where it goes... If it's something you are passionate about it may give you enough stress relief to see you happy again at work if just for the money... and if it takes off you could be the next Duck Commander
I had yet another thought for you Jason... Have you considered starting your own business? I did that during a slump time at my husbands present job when he was sure he wanted out sooner rather than later... We bought a farm and began farming, using our higher earning potential to finance it.
We have just gotten to the point that Don could 'retire' to the farm as we're in a position to ramp up to replacing his income. That was a real possibility recently when he had surgery and it looked like he would not make it back before the end of his FMLA caused him to lose his job. Two things happened with that... We realized that we really do have the security of the farm and Don realized that he values his job and is not ready to leave it... More of the ebb and flow of burnout... right now the tide is out for him and he'd like to work a few more years.
Maybe start something small at home, involve family if you can (or make room for them when they are older) and just see where it goes... If it's something you are passionate about it may give you enough stress relief to see you happy again at work if just for the money... and if it takes off you could be the next Duck Commander
Our businesses have both really taken off and we are getting to the point where doing them and our jobs is getting to be a lot. My husband is also concerned he may be being roped into a huge project at work. I have considered trying to get less hours at work if this happens to make things more manageable. After leaving my other job last year and managing to find the one I have, I really would be nervous to leave a job yet again. One of the hazards of going into business is that they just may be successful!! LOL!
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Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it. ~Chinese Proverb
When I was young and clever, I wanted to change the world. Now that I am older and wiser, I strive to change myself. ~
Jason, I’ve been thinking a lot about this thread. You have been on my heart for some reason. I’ve prayed for you.
I do have some words for you. I don’t know if it will help or not… Believe it or not, I just completed a series teaching on something that kind of follows this subject.
It all started with a sermon “Things that don’t exist” The point was, there is no such thing as a passive Christian and there really is no such thing as a passive sinner.
We are either working toward the goal (Paul’s “Mark for the high calling…”) or we are working at cross prepossesses. That lack of working toward the goal leaves us at cross purposes with God and we end up frustrated.
Paul talks about the “Old Man” and how we put him in the grave etc. What I find with most Christians is, they put down the old man, but often hold onto the thought process, goals, desires, intent of the old man. Not realizing that God intends the new man to have new ideas driving toward what God intends for us. Holding onto the desires and goals of the old man while being driven by the heart of the new man leads again to frustration. We work at cross purposes with ourselves!
Sin is the same. The bible talks about the WORKS of the flesh. Sin is WORK. It seems easy but it always leaves us empty. It is akin to taking a shovel and digging a giant hole in the ground. It is work and in the end, it is exhausting.
That led me to look for an answer. In the end I came up with something really simple. LIVE ON PURPOSE. Be intentional about your life!
Do you know where you are going? If you don’t, then you are just floating around allowing life to happen to you. And believe it or not, that is vastly MORE exhausting than WORKING toward the goals that God intends! Again, there is no such thing as a passive Christian.
I think in some measure your burnout is a result of this very thing. I mean no insult here. I came to this because of my own experience. My own burnout caused by much the same thing. Maybe I am projecting… If so, please forgive my intrusion, but I really believe in the commonality of our shared experience and if something is going on in one person’s life, chances are, it is common to mankind.
So what to do? Well first decide to really “run the race” that Paul talked about. Run. Really commit yourself to finding out what the goals, desires, intent and way of thinking God intends for YOU. Dig in and figure that out.
Know also that your personal life is not separate from your spiritual life! Rather, it is an extension of it. So if your personal life is not fulfilling, then maybe you have not connected the two.
Any race begins in the starting blocks. The starting blocks require the runner to go to their knees. Start there. In prayer. Now I am not suggesting you aren’t already doing that but I would be remiss to assume and not say it.
Pray. A lot. Then pray some more.
Then from that place start working on what you believe God intends for you. Then develop a plan. Do you have a 1 year plan for your life? I mean one that incorporates what God intends for you spiritually and how your personal life helps attain those goals?
You need that. You need a 5 year plan. You need a 10 year plan. And you need to take the baby steps to get you where you want to be.
You cannot quit a job because you don’t like it. But you can begin to prepare yourself for something that is fulfilling. You may find that by adjusting your goals to those that are from God, you become more satisfied with what you are doing in your personal life. When you see how it brings you into the place you need to be spiritually, how it helps fulfill that part of your life, you may find a better outlook.
OR you may find that were you are at work is just all wrong. Don’t quit working. That will just frustrate everything. Instead, begin to change the things about yourself that bring you where you need to be. Start learning new skills. Skills that are in line with your new goals. Start working on understanding what you are SUPPOSED to be doing. Then build a plan to get there.
Working toward something that has the stamp of approval by God Almighty will absolutely change your outlook and rejuvenate you.
One last thing. I am going to start teaching Purpose Driven Life this Sunday. It is a good fit for the subject at hand. Get the book if you don’t have it. Go thru it.
Just START Bro! I believe in you!
__________________ If I do something stupid blame the Lortab!
Well so far this week has been a little better. I have a meeting with the owner tomorrow at 9am, partly to come up with a solution regarding responsibilities and time off so that "everyone has a life." Including myself, and the VP (his son). I got a little relief this week, in that my Wednesday work day was shortened to 5 hours (as it stands I work 6 days a week-normally Saturday is a "half da" which ranges from 3 to 7 hours, normally closer to 7 than 3). I'll see how things turn out. I was checking in on AFF and saw several comments so I'll reply.
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"Resolved: That all men should live to the glory of God. Resolved, secondly: That whether or not anyone else does, I will." ~Jonathan Edwards
"The only man who has the right to say he is justified by grace alone is the man who has left all to follow Christ." ~Dietrich Bonheoffer, The Cost of Discipleship
"Preachers who should be fishing for men are now too often fishing for compliments from men." ~Leonard Ravenhill
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