Well, Hawkeye, I'm speaking from experience, having worked steadily, non-stop, full-time, for 40 years, finally retiring 5 years ago.
All my office jobs were stressful, every damn one. Each time I went on to the next job, I was sure it would cause me less stress on myself. Silly me. That was NEVER the case. I was ALWAYS tired, ALWAYS bringing the job home, constantly worrying about every piece of paper that had crossed my desk that day. It's just a part of working.
My IBS "hit" me in 1980, after I had worked for 20 years. Each job after that was "less stressful" (I thought), until I couldn't take it any more and finally retired.
It was THEN that my IBS got outta control -- AFTER I retired and was supposedly financially secure. Come to find out, my stress had absolutely nothing to do with the work environment, but everything to do with the pressures I put on MYSELF.
Working out of your home is not as stress-free as one would like to believe. You have the constant concern of "bringing in the money," ultimately ending up putting in more time on the computer than you ever did in your old job. When I retired, I worked out of my home initially, so I know what I'm talking about.
Are you sure you aren't unhappy with your job for some other reason than what you've stated? The last job I had was very much "beneath" me. My employer told me so; in fact, he didn't want to hire me because of it. I assured him I wanted that job because I knew I COULD handle it well and thus be stress-free. Well, it turned out my boss was right; I was bored silly. I would have hated that job had it not been for one thing: I had a little talk with myself. I sat down and said to myself, "Self, you can either be bored at this job and hate it, OR you can make the most of it by being THE BEST that Max ever hired." And that's what I did. I made myself invaluable, or so I would like to believe, becoming the BEST at that job than anyone he'd ever had, and in the end, when I left, it was very satisfying to look back and know that I ended my career extremely successfully.
What you are doing -- molding the minds of young children -- is very important; just knowing what you are doing for them has to be satisfying, certainly far more so than what I did in the law office.
I believe so many of our jobs are what we make of them; it's up to us.
I hope you can find a way of seeing an enrichment in your teaching. It's a very admirable profession and one you should be proud of.
Bevvy
--------------------
<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
Print
Remind Me
Notify Moderator
|
Posts
Whoa!
