I am passionate at my job. Or rather, I'm passionate about being there and doing my job just well enough to keep, then leaving so I do what I really want to do. Thus, I'm a piss poor person to offer any advice or useful suggestions.

I am, however, passionate about my family and indoor living, so I keep that POS job with all the power I can muster.

I'm pretty passionate about not having a job atm. It's lovely when one of the girls rings up and says, "wanna go have lunch today?" and I'm able to say, "sure, where shall we meet?". :)

I just realised i'm pretty passionate about what I do. So I took the first step towards getting paid for it today.... :lol:


Lookout, don't fret. it's impossible to be upbeat and optimistic 24/7 for your entire working life unless you do bucket loads of illegals drugs and your working life is mysteriously truncated. This is a natural regrouping point and you're ahead of the game by recognising it before you went postal.

It sounds like you have answered the question for yourself. From what I've seen, competition in various forms drives you. The challenge of going out on your own has now been successfully conquered. Looking into expanding by adding a couple partners might be exactly what you need to refuel your fire. Good luck!

Stop watching Glengarry Glen Ross and step AWAY from the remote! DO IT NOW!

I wouldn't say that Lookout is seeking to 'change careers halfway through' so much as considering a new career, having already had a very successful one. It's very unusual these days for people to have a single career in their lives: indeed we may want to revise what we mean by that word. Does career mean the overall trajectory of your working life, incorporating the various different paths you take? Or does it specifically mean each employment path that you take?

My mum had a clerical career until she was in her thirties then felt she'd got as much out of that as she wanted to and began a career in the NHS. Did she have two careers? Or did she have a career that consisted of two separate and different stages?

My husband had a job he HATED for seven years, then we received an inheritance large enough to buy a house outright, and gave him a few months to drop out and find a job he loved, and now all is well (he was on the verge of going postal before all of this happened)

lookout, I've been thinking a lot about this thread.

I'm kind of in the opposite boat...or the same boat in a different river, or a different boat in the same river. I don't know.

Though many dwellars know I have been unhappy at my job for a while, I think it has always revolved around the fact that we are grossly underpaid and unequal in the eyes of the powers that be to others who just make a bigger initial splash. This dilemma is not surprising, and at the core of it all I still loved what I did (deep down), felt I was making a difference, and liked the place where I work.

In the past couple weeks I have been realizing more and more that none of those things are true anymore. And I don't know if it's from being beaten down year after year so that the unhappiness overshadowed the satisfaction, or if I have just become so jaded I don't care anymore about helping, or if I really need a change in my life.

In the past couple weeks I find it increasingly difficult to put up with the bad parts of the job (and every job has them) and I don't know if it's because being unable to get out of the worrying about finances and future or because I have just, simply, burnt out. In one breath I tell myself I am only human and no wonder I feel this way. In the next breath I hate myself for not being content to try to do good things and a good job.

I've lost my drive and my intensity. For me, it seems that since money is not keeping me here, and I have no family for which to provide, it is time to move on.

But to do WHAT? Ay, there's the rub. What do I want to do? Do I think I'd be happier with a mindless job that pays more, that I can leave at work when I leave work? Would I be happier to stay poor if I felt that I was valuable?

(I know the old argument about money not buying happiness. That's a no brainer. I also know that the constant worry about just living takes the gleam off of any light I do feel in the world...I don't want much, just a bit of peace of mind.)

So, where do I go? What do I do? Is it crazy that I'm thinking about being a Veterinary Tech? I love animals, and I know it would be hard to see ones sick or in pain, or dying...but I think I would love it, too.

Eh, I guess this is just another of my "woe is my job" posts, and can be ignored as needed...but the difference is that I have reached deep down inside myself and I honestly can't say I have any joy in my job anymore. I can't put aside the joylessness to try to care. I can't watch the people who still find the joy without wondering what the eff is wrong with me.

So, where do I go now?

Thanks for listening, any one who has. I just needed to get this out.

It's not crazy to want to change careers. The trick is to do it right, just as if you were starting out fresh: you have to consider what sort of training you're going to need, how much it will cost, and how easily you can find a job as a veterinary tech. It goes without saying you will need to keep paying rent while you get whatever training you need. Have you researched what it might entail?

You know, you're right. I am blindly running things through my head as a knee jerk reaction to my sudden realization that I am not going to get what I need here.

I need to stop, breathe, think things through, think about long term. I needed that reminder. Thanks Clodfobble.

Hey Shawnee.......You could go to school and do what you love. You can still work- just take some night classes. No biggy.
:)




Oh and why is thomson still a member here?

Veterinary tech is one of those trick situations where if you care too much you can't do the job.

Absolutely, they are the ones that have to shoot the "blue juice" and put the bodies in the freezer.
Sure it feels good to save some but many can't be saved.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I think I probably do have too much of a thing for the critters to do that job. I just need to keep thinking about what might suit me. Do most people know what they want to be by the time they're 43? Astronaut, cowboy, and fireman are a little out of reach by now. :)

Thanks for the input.

Cic, who is thomson?

Thompson21 is a spammer from India, that goes from forum to forum, touting and linking his/her, career counseling service.