Dating My Job

Recently, I admitted that I was unhappy at work. It’s been a nagging suspicion for a while, but I actually found myself starting to say it out loud. This is not an easy stage for me, as my work, like little else, has always been a default success area. I have had the luck of having many amazing opportunities at a young age, jobs with freedom and responsibility, experiences that introduced me to what it feels like to truly contribute to something. In these jobs, I have been able to travel domestically and abroad, with hands-off remote management and a decent amount of recognition to feed my ego.

The resume I describe has been on hiatus. The last three years have been a blur in my personal life and I found myself holding on at work instead of really giving to it. This has some benefits: lunchtime yoga, shopping and errands between meetings, actually cooking dinner, the ability to confidently plan weeknight commitments, and a lack of work-related stress.

I’ve heard people claim that there are three aspects of life that can never all be good at the same time: job, home, and relationship. I will say, now that I have settled in to San Francisco as my happy home and my relationship is the best I could hope for, the job is living up (or down) to the urban myth. It’s becoming increasingly harder to go somewhere five days a week, sit for eight hours, and leave with no lagging passion or concern. I am craving more inspiration. I am feeling underutilized. In an attempt to help focus these feelings, I made a list of the things I want in my job that I do not feel I have today:

• Utilize my talent and expertise
• Get excited and feel passion for the work that I do
• Make a difference to the people I work for and with
• Continue to support my lifestyle and begin to save some money
• Maintain flexibility to work remotely whenever needed
• Be awarded enough time off for myself, my relationship, and my family