Seriously

I resigned from a very "stable" job over 2 years ago due to an injury. I fought to keep the job through rehab and surgeries for over 10 years. Since resigning, I'm now getting paid to do what I love and did for free for many, many years. The pay is less than 1/2 what I we were used to but in the last 6 months I've finally been able to truly say..."I love my life".

The "sacrifices" that my wife and I have had to make, we no longer look at things that were taken away but rather the cost of happiness. WELL worth it!!!
 
While admirable, you will ALWAYS need a vacation. Just like at pro musicians. To us they're living the dream life. And yet to them it has become a job. And doing other things now becomes the fun thing to do. Then again there are always exceptions. I know Mick Fleetwood once said he loves nothing more then coming off an airplane, check in a hotel and knowing there will be a gig that evening.
 
JoKeR III said:
I resigned from a very "stable" job over 2 years ago due to an injury. I fought to keep the job through rehab and surgeries for over 10 years. Since resigning, I'm now getting paid to do what I love and did for free for many, many years. The pay is less than 1/2 what I we were used to but in the last 6 months I've finally been able to truly say..."I love my life".

The "sacrifices" that my wife and I have had to make, we no longer look at things that were taken away but rather the cost of happiness. WELL worth it!!!
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I need to make a similar transition soon.
 
Everyone is born with a purpose and a gift. It's up to each person to discover both. The quote in my sig by Mark Twain sums up a full life: "The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why".

Life is simply too short to do something you don't enjoy. Doesn't mean it will be fun at all times but you should at least like what you do. I waited far too long to make the change but, as my grandad used to say "It's water under the bridge", it's what I do from this point forward that matters.
 
I'd say the people that have the opportunity to do something they truly love for work is incredibly small. Maybe a lot don't actually hate their job, and you don't have to psyche yourself up just to go in. I left a big tech powerhouse years ago because the stress and long hours were taking a serious toll. At the time I took a decent cut in pay to go to a smaller company. What I gained was a 40 hour work week for the first time in my professional life. They made up a little of the salary difference with five weeks of vacation, and don't mind that I use it. The big tech company technically had "unlimited" vacation, but nobody felt comfortable taking it. Maybe a day here and there, but the idea you could just take two weeks off was unheard of. Unless you were Indian, and then it was cool if you went to India to get married for two months.

Anyway, it was worth it to me. I'm far less stressed, I have a far more interesting job, even if not on the cutting edge. I don't really mind going to work (pre-lockdown), and I get along with the people there. Hell, a bunch of us go running around offroad some weekend, camp, etc. After a few years, I was pretty much back to my old salary. I'd still be making more money at the old place with stock and shit like that, but it wasn't worth my life. A good friend of mine that's been there close to 20 years told me one day, that he was upset that he never saw his kids grow up.
 
spagthorpe said:
I left a big tech powerhouse years ago because the stress and long hours were taking a serious toll. At the time I took a decent cut in pay to go to a smaller company. What I gained was a 40 hour work week for the first time in my professional life. They made up a little of the salary difference with five weeks of vacation, and don't mind that I use it. The big tech company technically had "unlimited" vacation, but nobody felt comfortable taking it. Maybe a day here and there, but the idea you could just take two weeks off was unheard of. Unless you were Indian, and then it was cool if you went to India to get married for two months.

Anyway, it was worth it to me. I'm far less stressed, I have a far more interesting job, even if not on the cutting edge. I don't really mind going to work (pre-lockdown), and I get along with the people there. Hell, a bunch of us go running around offroad some weekend, camp, etc. After a few years, I was pretty much back to my old salary. I'd still be making more money at the old place with stock and shit like that, but it wasn't worth my life. A good friend of mine that's been there close to 20 years told me one day, that he was upset that he never saw his kids grow up.
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Hoping that something like this will be my path, too, as I have noted similar trends as well....
 
About a year and a half ago, I quit the programming job I'd had for a long time. The company '"mission" was just to make the boss money, and he was a real piece of work to boot. I'm a seriously non-confrontational guy, to a fault, but one day I just couldn't take it, even though I was only about 3% into planning my getaway. I quit on the spot, in "work out the details later" mode.

I was out of work for a while, thinking on what I could do that would be more than making a living. I ended up at a pretty great non-profit, with a great boss. Best move ever. I'm making significantly less money, not a super smart move at my age and supporting a disabled wife and daughter, but SO worth it. I still have too much to do, and technical challenges I hope I can rise to, but the company helps lot of people, and that matters to me.

Don't sell yourself short. Whatever matters to you, head in that direction.
 
spagthorpe said:
I'd say the people that have the opportunity to do something they truly love for work is incredibly small. Maybe a lot don't actually hate their job, and you don't have to psyche yourself up just to go in. I left a big tech powerhouse years ago because the stress and long hours were taking a serious toll. At the time I took a decent cut in pay to go to a smaller company. What I gained was a 40 hour work week for the first time in my professional life. They made up a little of the salary difference with five weeks of vacation, and don't mind that I use it. The big tech company technically had "unlimited" vacation, but nobody felt comfortable taking it. Maybe a day here and there, but the idea you could just take two weeks off was unheard of. Unless you were Indian, and then it was cool if you went to India to get married for two months.

Anyway, it was worth it to me. I'm far less stressed, I have a far more interesting job, even if not on the cutting edge. I don't really mind going to work (pre-lockdown), and I get along with the people there. Hell, a bunch of us go running around offroad some weekend, camp, etc. After a few years, I was pretty much back to my old salary. I'd still be making more money at the old place with stock and shit like that, but it wasn't worth my life. A good friend of mine that's been there close to 20 years told me one day, that he was upset that he never saw his kids grow up.
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It's not always doing something you love to make a living. It's finding an occupation that allows you to live your life now, not waiting for a future time to be able to enjoy life (i.e. retirement). I've heard an expression; Happiness is not a destination, it's a way of life.

My journey has taught me that being happy is being content with what you have and where you are in your life. We have a sign in our living room "Gratitude turns what we have into enough". It's also working on and focusing on things that are in my control, recognizing that there is a lot that is out of my control. Allowing events, situations or other's actions to affect me is giving something or someone else control of my life.

For years I was waiting until my pain went away, hoping the next doctor or surgery would be the answer. About 5 years ago, I was told there was a slim chance it would get any better. I started focusing on what I couldn't do anymore and that it just wasn't fair. I was miserable. A couple of years ago, I finally started thinking about the fact that I may not get back to normal, coming to grips with it, and asked "what then"? I made the decision that if I get better, great; if I don't, great. I would no longer allow my condition to keep me from finding a way to live and finding things I could do.

This is the point when I resigned and began the journey of becoming happy- Focusing on what I have, who I have, what I can do and who I can do things with. I'm now in my mid 50's and it's been a long, hard road but again, I've never been happier. Attitude is a choice.
 
JoKeR III said:
It's not always doing something you love to make a living. It's finding an occupation that allows you to live your life now, not waiting for a future time to be able to enjoy life (i.e. retirement). I've heard an expression; Happiness is not a destination, it's a way of life.
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This has been the major issue in my life since forever - deferred happiness. Gaslighted down the road further each day for the benefit of others and to the detriment of my own life and happiness. This upcoming move, despite losing the garage, is part of an effort to get into a position where even a crappy job is sufficient, so perhaps a decent work/life balance can be achieved. A sort of spritual pulling one's self up by one's own bootstraps....
 
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That’s not how it works, at least not for me. I’ve been in situations where I got paid to do what I love, and discovered that in order to love things, they need to be available in strict moderation. It’s sort of like buying a bucket of Nutella at Costco. You loved it when it’s just a spoon or two, but after eating a bucket of it you will really hate it. Same with people moving to Hawaii: they love it for a few months and then begin to hate it.

Moral of the story: if you do really love something, don’t do it professionally or full time.
 
Great thread. I agree that your passions and the way you make a living don’t always line up, and that’s okay.

Find a way to make a living (think about it that phrase for a minute) that allows you to enjoy life, even if it’s in your “off” hours.

I look forward to paying my mortgage off, so that I can be even more flexible with what I do to make money (cut back on hours). But while it’s okay to look forward to things, we can’t let ourselves get into the mindset of “I’ll be happy when ” or “If I could just _, then I’ll be able to enjoy life.” There will always be another [fill in the blank] that you plan for and look forward for to, but we must be content where we are, even as we look to and plan for the future.
 
getlostinsound said:
Great thread. I agree that your passions and the way you make a living don’t always line up, and that’s okay.

Find a way to make a living (think about it that phrase for a minute) that allows you to enjoy life, even if it’s in your “off” hours.

I look forward to paying my mortgage off, so that I can be even more flexible with what I do to make money (cut back on hours). But while it’s okay to look forward to things, we can’t let ourselves get into the mindset of “I’ll be happy when ” or “If I could just _, then I’ll be able to enjoy life.” There will always be another [fill in the blank] that you plan for and look forward for to, but we must be content where we are, even as we look to and plan for the future.
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I did pay off my mortgage finally. Turns out real estate taxes here (outside Boston) amount to roughly half of what we were paying, and they don't go away.

I should have had a better handle on how that was going to play out. Not sure I would have done anything different, but I would have felt differently when this got clear.
 
Yeah. I pay $1k/mo to live in my own goddamn house. And that number inches upward every year, no matter what. And they’re always trying to put massive levies on top of that as well. One of the most perennial and irritating ones is for the nearby hospital I can’t even go to, since it’s not in network for my insurance. Last I checked. though, hospitals still charge an arm and a leg, levy or no levy, so I don’t quite get why the taxpayers are being asked to fund a $300M bond on top of that. They’ve put it up for a vote 3 times so far and I’m pleased to say that the taxpayers gave it the finger every time, although by not as much of a margin as I’d like. But I digress.

On the topic of mortgage, one would be advised at this time to not pay it off too soon, or maybe even take on more debt. We’re about to enter a period of inflation. The government will cook the books and pretend it doesn’t exist (as it always does), but exist it will. So you get to pay your mortgage in the future with cheaper dollars, which you’ll be getting more of to do the same job.
 
plexi59 said:
Yeah. I pay $1k/mo to live in my own goddamn house. And that number inches upward every year, no matter what. And they’re always trying to put massive levies on top of that as well. One of the most perennial and irritating ones is for the nearby hospital I can’t even go to, since it’s not in network for my insurance. Last I checked. though, hospitals still charge an arm and a leg, levy or no levy, so I don’t quite get why the taxpayers are being asked to fund a $300M bond on top of that. They’ve put it up for a vote 3 times so far and I’m pleased to say that the taxpayers gave it the finger every time, although by not as much of a margin as I’d like. But I digress.

On the topic of mortgage, one would be advised at this time to not pay it off too soon, or maybe even take on more debt. We’re about to enter a period of inflation. The government will cook the books and pretend it doesn’t exist (as it always does), but exist it will. So you get to pay your mortgage in the future with cheaper dollars, which you’ll be getting more of to do the same job.
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It sounds like you might live in NJ....
 
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