Hi there! Like many of you, nothing turns me off more than the thought of working 40+ hours a week with little to no time to focus on my health, my marriage, my happiness, etc.
I have always been extremely sensitive to work schedules. Dreading work before it began, being consumed by the thought of work on the weekends, starting a new job every year out of frustration. I beat myself up about my inability to "start a career" because I come from a long line of teachers, and they all wonder what the heck I'm doing with my life. I'm 25, and if I followed in their footsteps, I would have two years of teaching under my belt already. But they must forget how miserable they always were when I was growing up. It was far from a glamorous career, and it never inspired me to teach. When I finished my degree (that wasn't an education degree), they were all concerned for my future, and I guess they had a right to be.
While I don't feel like I've made a mistake, I feel like I'm still fumbling around trying to find my place in the world. I've had therapists tell me that it's normal for my age, but I would really love to feel like my choices are a little more intentional than they have been.
I oscillate between an ENORMOUS desire to help other people (hungry kids, sick kids, at-risk kids, food insecure families, lgbtq youth and individuals, etc.) and an ENORMOUS desire to work as little as possible and live simply.
I left an incredibly stressful job three months ago where I was working with students on a daily basis, but it wasn't the students who were having a negative effect on me. I struggled with management, I struggled with inefficiency and last minute changes, I struggled with the incompetency of some of my coworkers. The students were the only positive thing about that job, but I felt like I needed a break.
So I accepted a part time administrative job with a nonprofit where I am working ~25 hours a week for less than half the pay. Needless to say, it's been a difficult adjustment, and my partner and I are already looking around for supplemental income, but so many part time jobs are geared toward college students (we live in a college town) who are willing to accept minimum wage and no benefits.
Not only is the pay absolute shit, but the work is the opposite of inspiring, and it makes me incredibly self-conscious to be 25 applying to work with 16-17 year olds.
I am so torn. I DO want to do something meaningful...something that helps others and that FEELS like a career. I just don't want to devote 40+ hours a week to it, and I would love to be compensated fairly. I have a degree in Anthropology, I have worked with kids for over ten years now, and I'm a fairly capable and hard working person.
How can I live simply and make a difference? That is the careful balance I am trying to find. Am I being unrealistic?
Thanks for any advice, and thanks for letting me vent a bit.
Submitted August 06, 2017 at 04:38PM by freefloralcouch http://ift.tt/2vbTnQo
