We live in world where working a job we hate is actually worse for our mental health than having no job at all. That’s insane, because people need jobs.
There’s a really terrible place that people get to mentally when they hate their jobs. For me, it was this weird, angsty purgatory state where I buried myself in my tasks, stopped socializing, came home at night sobbing and spent the weekends sleeping to emotionally recover. Add in chores, errands and obligatory social engagements and behold the baffling expectation that people who are in this Hopeless Zone should be constantly looking for a new job. Many people who hate their jobs work overtime, and are already running low on time, energy and emotional strength to look for another job.
This is this holding pattern I call the Hopeless Zone and I was in it. My depression fed off of that Hopeless Zone and vice versa. It was horrible and I was miserable.
If you are in the Hopeless Zone, please don’t feel alone.
Even though most of my coworkers hated their jobs too, it was killing me. All I could think about was how much I needed to leave. Other areas of my life were being greatly affected including my relationships and my health. But because other people seemed to deal with it better than I could, I felt incredibly isolated and alone.
During this time, I started researching how many people felt completely horrible over feeling ‘stuck’ at a dead-end job. That’s when I learned that most people hate their jobs. This statistic is sad, however, I needed to know that I wasn’t alone in my contempt for my desk job.
While I was at my job for way too long, I also learned what I was going to do next. If you are stuck in that Hopeless Zone, just remember that this is the place your breakthrough is probably going to be born. You just have to muster every last ounce of effort to keep your eyes, your mind and your heart open to what it’s going to be and then how you are going to get there. But don’t worry, if you are that miserable at your job, you are already closer than you think. Desperation breeds some amazing escape plans!
So no, you aren’t alone. A lot of people stay at jobs they hate way too long. I absolutely stayed at a job I hated way too long. But I learned it wasn’t just me. And, I learned that it may have been what was needed for me to decide what I wanted to do.
The coolest part of being stuck in the hopeless zone? You get to decide if you are going to learn from your experience too and go be one of the few people that do something about hating their jobs.
Ready to get serious about your work from anywhere job search? I whole-heartedly recommend Flexjobs, the site where I found my first freelance writing gig. There are zero scams on their site and they have their own 100% remote team, too!
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