Ha! There's still a strong part of me that holds onto this ideal. We really SHOULD be able to love something we spend half of our waking lives doing. But, yeah, maybe those people spreading that message could've added, "but you can settle for something you enjoy, like, 70% of the time..."
“The high hopes of my 20s have been dashed. But instead of letting that turn me into the hopeless middle-aged crank I hated encountering back then, I can adjust my barometer and find happiness where it’s available to me.”
This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I recently decided to leave yet another creative gig where the company I felt valued in drastically changed within 5 years. I accepted a much better paying hybrid position with an established company that has already shown more appreciation than I’ve had in years, and I haven’t even started yet. 😂
I’ve really been struggling with the death of my “successful creative” dreams and how my career has felt more like jumping from one disappearing rock in a river of hot lava to another. I’ve survived the death of so many print industries: catalog, magazine, newspaper, etc., and been forced to find job satisfaction in social media, a toxic stream of mostly meaningless propaganda I actively avoid in my private life.
Thank you for the perspective I needed exactly when I needed it! Your book and Substack have really helped me navigate this period of late-career woes in a way nothing else does! I’m so grateful for your brave honesty and willingness to be vulnerable online. 🩷
It sounds like we're in very similar life moments! "jumping from one disappearing rock in a river of hot lava to another" is SUCH a perfect description of life and work in this industry.
This is a great exercise more people should do. Understanding and being present with changing priorities over time can help a person be more comfortable with decisions they make.
I thought I was going to work for private consulting engineering firms forever. Salary and benefits were good. The drive to be more profitable all the time was draining my energy/life. After 26 years and a lot of self reflection, I made the change to a public government agency where I have the ability to be more intentional with my efforts. I'm facilitating between multiple departments to get more benefit out of our road construction projects. Dovetailing the road project with making parts of town more attractive for development and increasing safety.
After reading YDNAB and other life changing books, I realized a change was possible and in fact needed to be a happier person. So far, so good a year later now.
So great to hear this move is going well for you a year in, Bryan! I'm so glad YDNAB was able to be part of that 💖
It's so funny — when I was in my 20s, I was already aware that my generation wasn't going to work in any single job forever the way our parents kind of expected to. But even with that understanding, it's still been tough every time I make a change or pivot in my career. Maybe I can eventually just embrace this as normal and get more comfortable with the change :)
I loved this post and it resonated with me so much! I was a blogger for about 10 years in the 2010's but never monetized because I didn't know how! I was and still am a teacher by trade. I was working in an international school making peanuts and then transitioned to a school with the Department of Defense (War?) I doubled my salary and cut my work load in half over night. I enjoy my new position and all the perks it gives me!! (TSP company match, cost of living stipend, subsidized gas, an APO for US mail, free car registration... all perks that make it possible for me to stash cash in other areas / ways and also live a great life!)
Kudos on this move to improve your life! It sounds like you still get to do what you’re good at, but without the stress of being underpaid and overworked 💖
Dana, you're such a compelling writer. And this: "...when I had the privilege of imagining the life I wanted to live" OOF. That's the whole ballgame, about so much of our lives -- work and beyond -- and what aging into midlife in the world we've found ourselves has meant: we've lost that privilege.
Thank you for that kind compliment, Hannah! I feel good about that line, and, yes, it’s so true! I’ve always been terrified to lose the idealism of my youth, but I haven’t. What I’ve lost is the privilege I had at that time to dream about a perfect life — time passes, and you eventually have to live that life, however it ends up.
I would really like to go back in time and yell at the cultural forces that made me and many others think that you had to LOOOOVE your job.
Ha! There's still a strong part of me that holds onto this ideal. We really SHOULD be able to love something we spend half of our waking lives doing. But, yeah, maybe those people spreading that message could've added, "but you can settle for something you enjoy, like, 70% of the time..."
Right. I should've also explained a little further that it doesn't have to be something you love and thus part of your identity.
“The high hopes of my 20s have been dashed. But instead of letting that turn me into the hopeless middle-aged crank I hated encountering back then, I can adjust my barometer and find happiness where it’s available to me.”
This couldn’t have come at a better time for me. I recently decided to leave yet another creative gig where the company I felt valued in drastically changed within 5 years. I accepted a much better paying hybrid position with an established company that has already shown more appreciation than I’ve had in years, and I haven’t even started yet. 😂
I’ve really been struggling with the death of my “successful creative” dreams and how my career has felt more like jumping from one disappearing rock in a river of hot lava to another. I’ve survived the death of so many print industries: catalog, magazine, newspaper, etc., and been forced to find job satisfaction in social media, a toxic stream of mostly meaningless propaganda I actively avoid in my private life.
Thank you for the perspective I needed exactly when I needed it! Your book and Substack have really helped me navigate this period of late-career woes in a way nothing else does! I’m so grateful for your brave honesty and willingness to be vulnerable online. 🩷
It sounds like we're in very similar life moments! "jumping from one disappearing rock in a river of hot lava to another" is SUCH a perfect description of life and work in this industry.
This is a great exercise more people should do. Understanding and being present with changing priorities over time can help a person be more comfortable with decisions they make.
I thought I was going to work for private consulting engineering firms forever. Salary and benefits were good. The drive to be more profitable all the time was draining my energy/life. After 26 years and a lot of self reflection, I made the change to a public government agency where I have the ability to be more intentional with my efforts. I'm facilitating between multiple departments to get more benefit out of our road construction projects. Dovetailing the road project with making parts of town more attractive for development and increasing safety.
After reading YDNAB and other life changing books, I realized a change was possible and in fact needed to be a happier person. So far, so good a year later now.
So great to hear this move is going well for you a year in, Bryan! I'm so glad YDNAB was able to be part of that 💖
It's so funny — when I was in my 20s, I was already aware that my generation wasn't going to work in any single job forever the way our parents kind of expected to. But even with that understanding, it's still been tough every time I make a change or pivot in my career. Maybe I can eventually just embrace this as normal and get more comfortable with the change :)
I loved this post and it resonated with me so much! I was a blogger for about 10 years in the 2010's but never monetized because I didn't know how! I was and still am a teacher by trade. I was working in an international school making peanuts and then transitioned to a school with the Department of Defense (War?) I doubled my salary and cut my work load in half over night. I enjoy my new position and all the perks it gives me!! (TSP company match, cost of living stipend, subsidized gas, an APO for US mail, free car registration... all perks that make it possible for me to stash cash in other areas / ways and also live a great life!)
Kudos on this move to improve your life! It sounds like you still get to do what you’re good at, but without the stress of being underpaid and overworked 💖
Dana, you're such a compelling writer. And this: "...when I had the privilege of imagining the life I wanted to live" OOF. That's the whole ballgame, about so much of our lives -- work and beyond -- and what aging into midlife in the world we've found ourselves has meant: we've lost that privilege.
Thank you for that kind compliment, Hannah! I feel good about that line, and, yes, it’s so true! I’ve always been terrified to lose the idealism of my youth, but I haven’t. What I’ve lost is the privilege I had at that time to dream about a perfect life — time passes, and you eventually have to live that life, however it ends up.
I, too, have not lost mine 👭