Life is too short to suffer through a job that makes you miserable.
I know saying this is cliché, but it’s cliché because it’s TRUE.
It doesn’t matter if you think you can suffer through your shifts to pay for odds and ends in college. Waking up and immediately dreading the day because of work is no way to live.
I have personally worked a few jobs that made me want to cry when I woke up each morning. One job involved 12-hour shifts on my feet in a factory. One was a retail job with snobby rich people. A third was the construction job with hot summer days and 10 hours of praying for death.
I did have some fun working these jobs. The people I worked with were great, but the work itself was more of an experiment to see if I would enjoy it. And alas, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I thought operating factory machines would make me feel knowledgeable and proud. I thought selling furniture would help me branch out in my customer service skills. And I thought working in construction would be a great source of exercise.
While these theories held true for a short while, evidently I grew exhausted and declined into a hefty dread for the coming day.
So what is my dream job? Freelance editor. I want to create my own work schedule and be a business owner for myself. I’ve been studying every aspect involved in being self-employed and freelancing. I’ve developed a vision of myself working in a home office with epic computer equipment and contracts with all the local businesses for advertising, articles, and research. I imagine myself as being happy and successful with a loving significant other and of course a few dogs.
But the only way to get to that point of success is to quit working the jobs that make me constantly wish I was elsewhere. If I keep putting so many hours into a job completely unrelated to freelance editing, I will not be a full-time freelancer for many years.
The challenge and the risk is quitting my steady job, paying for my own health insurance, dropping all paid time off, and diving into the questionable flow of incoming work. That’s a big risk.
Do I know enough about freelancing to take my life in a 180-degree turn?
Is my English degree sharp enough in my brain to perform good work?
What if I fail?
What if I have to come crawling back to one of my former jobs and admit my defeat?
Can I handle that kind of pressure?
What if I am successful but I’m still not happy?
As I write this and think about my past jobs, I’ve come to a small conclusion. I took the jobs I did in the past because that’s what I wanted at the time. Freelance editing is what I want now. So why not go for it?
Anytime a friend tells me they're tired of their job I encourage them to go after what they want. But when I'm not entirely happy in my job, I hesitate and tell myself to suck it up.
How is that fair to myself?
So to further my cliche life, I'm telling myself to go for it!
Life is short and you only get one shot at a good time. Do what you want. Don't listen to what other people say. And have fun!
