Self Help

Have you ever heard of the phrase “living a life of quiet desperation”? Of course you have, but what does that phrase have to do with stress? Well let me tell you a story about a friend of mine named Chuck and see if you are living a similar experience:

After graduating high school, Chuck went to work for a large and well known company. The pay was outstanding as far as he was concerned and so were the hours, but Chuck was dissatisfied, so he quit and went back to school. Unfortunately, that wasn’t very satisfying for him either. Without any goals there wasn’t much motivation to study, so Chuck took a job as a salesman and he put in his time sticking it out for a year or so before being unhappy and moving onto something else.

His life has continued like that for a long time. Now at close to fifty years old, Chuck works in a factory at a job that he hates. He had never intended to stay there for the last ten years. It had started off as a temporary position until something better came along. But when his family began to grow Chuck decided to “hang with it for a little while longer.” Sometimes he thinks about changing again, but these kinds of jobs are hard to get nowadays, especially for a man at his age. And since Chuck still has teenagers at home it is too risky to leave the job for the unknown that might pay less or offer less benefit. So Chuck goes to work every morning and counts the hours until quitting time. He’s also looking forward to retirement, with only fourteen more years to go!

Apparently there are a lot of people like Chuck. In fact, various surveys reveal that more than half of the people interviewed dislike the job that they have. The reasons for this vary, and only part of the problem appears to stem from inadequate pay, poor working conditions, or lack of promotions. It appears that one of the biggest reasons for people being dissatisfied in their work is the stress that is involved in now knowing if that is what you were meant to do in life. In other words, having to wake up every day doing the same thing for eight to twelve hours a day, while not secure in how you are spending your life, creates a huge amount of stress. Add to that the stresses from the rest of daily living and you have a recipe for a life half lived, at best.

What would have saved Chuck from living a life of stress and quiet desperation? What could save you from traveling down the same path? The answer to that question cannot be delivered in simple terms within one article. But one thing that you can learn today is that if you are feeling stress and unhappiness from your work, then stop listening to other people and start listening to yourself. What would you like to be doing with your life? What would you do if you knew you could do anything you wanted to and did not have to worry about money? What is causing you the most stress with the career you have chosen and what can be done to remedy that stress?