One of my clients has been really struggling with her job. She doesn’t like it. She never really has and she’s making life changes so that she can eventually leave her job. In the meantime, she really doesn’t want to be miserable and yet, she really doesn’t like her job. So, what’s an unhappy employee to do?
You have a few choices:
- Tolerate the job. This isn’t a horrible idea, though tolerating can sure be draining in the long run. Tolerating can work if you see a relative near end date and you are just going to put up with that crappy job until then. However, if you’ve got a number of years left in the work force, is this really how you want to spend them? Tolerating a job?
- You could find something you love about the job and change your focus to looking forward to that aspect of the job. Maybe it’s your team mates or even good coffee at the office. Whatever it is, you focus on it and bring some joy to your otherwise joyless day.
- You can leave. This is definitely a privileged point of view because not everyone can afford to leave a job or the benefits that often go with said job. So if this is a possibility in your world, kudos!
- You can do what my client’s friend recommended that she do and that’s to remind herself that her crappy job allows her to buy tacos. And really, who doesn’t like tacos? This may sound like a ludicrous solution to those of you who don’t like your job, but think about it. What does your job allow you to do? Buy tacos? Travel? Pay for your kids’ college? Is there some side benefit to your job that you are not taking into account? My first job ever was at Wendy’s (the burger place) and we got free Frosties. Free Frosties was well worth my time as a cashier at Wendy’s.
Although the taco idea sounds very tongue in cheek, we can usually find joy anywhere if we really look for it. We are not all going to love our jobs. It happens. So can we love what our job gives us? What else can we love in our lives that has nothing to do with work? I’m going to recommend tacos as a good place to start.
Love,
Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC