I am a professional and I earn a good salary. The atmosphere at my workplace is good; I don’t have any conflicts with any of my co-workers. The problem is that I hate to go to work every day. I am asked to do things in one day’s time, yet the truth is it takes me weeks to get them done. Everything is repetitive and dull. All day long I dwell on the fact that I would like to resign or get fired.
Three months after I began this job, I developed blotches on my face. The doctor says that daily stress is causing this condition. One day I cried for ten minutes on my wife’s shoulder because of how badly I felt. I haven’t resigned because I am not sure if I am the problem or if the problem is my workplace. Additionally, even though my wife works, I feel obligated to work and earn a living. I feel like I’m wasting my life so that the owner of the business can have more money, take trips, and buy luxuries. My only happiness is when I get to leave work and go home to my wife each day.
What can I do? Is my problem my attitude, or am I just depressed?
Dear Friend,
I am sorry to hear about your situation. You certainly sound miserable and desperate for a solution.
Even though you have a good salary, a professional career, and a wonderful wife, you still hate what you have to do everyday, and it has even affected you physically. Your last few sentences may be the key to understanding why you are unable to overcome the stress and feelings of despair.
You say that you are working so that your boss can have more money, take more trips, and buy more luxuries. This is all about your lack of an adequate purpose for your professional life. You want to work for a good cause and have a motivating reason to go to your job each day.
Many people have learned that they would rather work for a non-profit organization that has a cause to believe in, even if it means that they earn less money. Then they can go to their job each day and work for the cause, not for the money. I suggest that you should continue at your present job only until you can find a suitable position in such an organization.
In the meantime, your purpose should be to do such a good job that your reputation and experience will qualify for any position you desire to have in the future. Go to work each day believing that your current duties are stepping stones toward the future that you are building. And don’t do anything that will get you fired, as that will be a stain on your resume.
If you have never begun a personal relationship with God, then there is a profound emptiness in your life. It can never be filled with a job, even if it is a job with a purpose. That emptiness can only be filled when you ask God to forgive your sins in the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to forgive your sins, fill the emptiness in your life, and give you a real purpose to live for.
I wish you well,
Linda