In my work as a Life and Executive Coach, I work with quite a few people who are unhappily employed. They might suggest that they are glad they have a job, but the job they have stinks. Needless to say, this is a rather unhappy state of being for these job haters and they often ask me if it’s possible to be happy even if they hate their job. My answer is, “If you choose to be.”

Sometimes people can’t, or choose not to, leave their jobs for a variety of reasons: pensions, insurance, pay, etc. They then choose to be unhappy in that same job. They essentially live in a worst-case scenario in which they feel trapped, and they are unhappy. It’s a miserable way of life and leads to unhappiness in all other aspects of life. I understand that when so many hours of your day are spent in misery, it’s awfully hard to be happy the rest of the time.

As with everything else in life, if you are unhappy with your job, you might want to put yourself in the mindset of choice. You get to choose if you stay at that job, and you get to choose how you will program your mindset about that same job. Can someone who works on a factory line be happy? We know they can, and we see it frequently. Can someone who has a chronic health condition be happy? Of course, and many are.

I’m not suggesting that it’s easy to choose happiness when our surroundings are rather miserable. I am suggesting that if you don’t find a way to do so, then I can guarantee you will live a rather miserable existence. I see it frequently in people who choose to be unhappy. They look for the worst in their lives, focus on it, and then live it. That way of being is probably more common than not.

Ask yourself what you are saying about your life, job, etc. Then ask yourself how helpful those thoughts are. From there, you can choose to change your thinking and your mindset. In so doing, you change how you feel and ultimately how you show up to life. What if changing your thoughts actually changed how you looked at your job? What if you ended up liking versus hating your work?

The power is in your hands. Either leave your job or leave your unhappiness. Make a choice and get to work. Life is short and fragile. Why waste it on hating anything?

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC