I dropped my IT career to work at a hardware store. That was my retirement plan, and I’m in no shape to quit working, but I had to do something to get out of my rut. Depression was killing me, body and mind. Pay sucks, and no I’m not dying to get dressed and go in, but my physical and mental health is quickly improving.
Also, I’m learning new skills, learning more about how the world works, and best of all, learning from talking to customers about their projects. Hell, I can wander over to lumber and my coworkers will school me all day long on the projects I need to build.
LOL, my manager and I, in our 50s, are literally throwing rocks while the 20-something pudgy kids stand around staring. Guess who’s moving up, getting respect and perks?
It’s great that you’re doing better, but your survival and mental wellbeing should never have been conditioned on employment in the first place. What you did - switching to a new career that gave you a sense of fulfillment - is something that countless others have extreme difficulty doing because the threat of homelessness and destitution is held over our heads like a sword of Damocles.
You shouldn’t have had to take a pay cut to find happiness.
I dropped my IT career to work at a hardware store. That was my retirement plan, and I’m in no shape to quit working, but I had to do something to get out of my rut. Depression was killing me, body and mind. Pay sucks, and no I’m not dying to get dressed and go in, but my physical and mental health is quickly improving.
Also, I’m learning new skills, learning more about how the world works, and best of all, learning from talking to customers about their projects. Hell, I can wander over to lumber and my coworkers will school me all day long on the projects I need to build.
LOL, my manager and I, in our 50s, are literally throwing rocks while the 20-something pudgy kids stand around staring. Guess who’s moving up, getting respect and perks?
It’s great that you’re doing better, but your survival and mental wellbeing should never have been conditioned on employment in the first place. What you did - switching to a new career that gave you a sense of fulfillment - is something that countless others have extreme difficulty doing because the threat of homelessness and destitution is held over our heads like a sword of Damocles.
You shouldn’t have had to take a pay cut to find happiness.