You’re miserable all the time, you’re not sleeping, you’re going prematurely grey, and your family and friends are taking the brunt of your frustration. If everything else in your life seems relatively stable, chances are it’s your job that’s causing you such misery. The simple solution seems to just find a new one, but often times there can be things holding us back from making such a drastic leap. Maybe the benefits are really good or the commute is super short; perhaps you’re unlikely to find something else in the field in your area or the salary is too hard to beat. But just because there may be some parts of your job you do like, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to make a change to improve your situation.
Firstly, you need to find the source of your problem. What is it that’s making you unhappy? Is it the environment or the people you work with? Is it the rate of your career progression or the salary you earn? There are many factors to consider when it comes to unhappiness, and you may find there are several small elements that are making you feel the way you do. Identifying these problems will help you figure out whether you can make the situation by helping solve it. It might also be something that’s temporary and therefore isn’t something you need to worry about. Note them down and really go into detail if necessary. Once you’ve noted them all down, write down next to it, what it is that will help resolve it. This is the point where you may find that actually, there are steps you can take in order to fix it, without having to move forward.
If the problems you have aren’t immediately fixable, now is a good opportunity to speak to friends and family. They are the people who know you best and will be able to give you advice on how you’re feeling. Right now, probably all of your thoughts have been internalised, and you’ve not expressed your frustration to anyone as of yet. Discuss your issues with them and see how they react. Perhaps they’ll agree and encourage you to approach your manager or maybe they’ll make suggestions on how this might not be something that’s worth getting upset over. Often those closest in our lives can give us sound advice when we need it most. If they encourage you to take things further, it’s time to approach your boss. It’s also good to do some venting to your friends and family. We often take our frustrations out on those that we love because they listen and provide that shoulder to lean on when things get tough. Always talk about how you’re feeling, rather than just bottling up. That certainly won’t help anything!
Your company should have some sort of system in place where you can meet up with your manager, or line manager every so often to discuss how you’re doing in your role and within the workplace. If this isn’t something that’s actively done, you could speak confidently with HR to ask how to go about setting up a formal meeting. You may have a good enough relationship to pull them over to one side and request a time where you can maybe go out for coffee or use a meeting room or their office to chat. Before sitting down with your manager, you want to make sure you have a plan of action for your conversation. It’s important to know what you want to get across and why it is that you aren’t happy in your job.
When it comes to the meeting, make sure to take in a notepad so you can note down anything that might come up within the conversation that needs reflection. They may at some point offer you a number of solutions, and it might be something that you need more time to think about. In the same instance, it’s good to encourage them to do the same if they’re not expecting what the conversation entails. Be honest and open and try not to direct your thoughts and feeling angrily towards your manager. If you end up parting ways with the company, you want to make sure that you are going your separate ways on a positive note, rather than a negative one.
Your manager might be able to feedback on anything that makes you unhappy and is willing to change things to make you happy in the role. However, you would need to consider the scenario where your manager may not be able to provide any answers or solutions, and therefore, you may want to look at changing roles or pursuing a different career path entirely.
Having a back-up plan is useful when it comes to your current job. Before you go searching for something new, look to see if there’s anything that you can do to lean back on, should anything not go to plan. For example, it is worth asking your manager for a bit of time to find a new job or perhaps to have a fixed contract that gives you a certain amount of months before they start recruiting. This will help you trial any solutions that have been put in place but to also help you with your job search. You know you’ve got a bit of leeway to work with.
Start researching different jobs that are available if it becomes the latter. Take note of all your skills and experience and take this as a good opportunity to update your CV so that you can tweak it to appeal to those job positions that you apply to. If a career change is an option, then you’ll want to factor in additional training or education that you might need. For example, moving from finance into psychology may require you to start looking at an online Christian psychology degree. Training and courses will cost money, so there is also funding that you’ll need to consider in order to support yourself while studying. Education is also something you need to get yourself back into a mindset of, and that might not be something that’s possible just yet. It’s also worth figuring out whether you have the natural ability and talent for this new job or career path. If it seems unreachable, then it just might be, and that’s the point where you look elsewhere for something that matches closer to what you can do. Those roles may not be possible now, but they could be in the future.
Sometimes though, you may just be needing a little break from it all, and if you’ve got some annual leave that needs taking, it might be worth to escape for a while to help you reset your batteries and think about what it is that will make you truly happy within your role. A lot of us will end up running ourselves into the ground both physically and mentally when it comes to work, and that can be dangerous for our wellbeing. So it could be just a case of focusing on yourself more that will make you happier in your job.
Making time for yourself is important, and it can often be the solution to many problems, including work life. Remove yourself from the situation for a while, and you could come back with a different mindset. If it doesn’t make a difference though, that’s when you’ll know for sure that things aren’t right for you in your job. However, it’s important to keep your spirits up. It can be very difficult to keep yourself happy outside of work, but you can let this negativity seep into your personal life. Keeping your personal life separate is important, and it can help you take control of your emotions.
Which is why it’s important to focus on your real life. It’s important to focus on the things that really matter in life. So if you’re getting yourself down about your job, then try focusing on all those elements of your life that make it worth living. Your friends, family or the home you live in. It might be a pet, your hobbies or simply a morning routine that you’ve perfected. Find these little moments of happiness, and you’ll realise that even if this unhappiness isn’t temporary, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There will be a solution to your problems. That could be leaving your job or that might be your manager making the changes necessary to make it better for you.
The thing to remember is that your happiness should always be a priority, beyond everything, and that’s including your job. Start by finding the core of the problem and enquiring as to whether solutions can be found. Speak to your friends and family members about how you’re feeling to figure out whether it’s something that’s worth following up or if it might just be a temporary situation. Approach your manager to come to some sort of solution and if that’s not possible, figure out what you want to do next. Remember to consider further education and a back-up plan just in case. The world is your oyster, so don’t be afraid if it’s time to move on!
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