What are you willing to sacrifice?

[FauxLiz]

My dream job was offered to me last week but would require I take a substantial cut in pay at least initially. I am trying to figure out what I am willing to do without/sacrifice for this chance at a dream I had basically given up on. So the question is what would you be willing to sacrifice in your life for your dream job?

 

[DharmaGirl]

Yep, and I have in the past. My thought was that if you are doing what you love, you spend your life being fulfilled. Of course now that I am 62, I don't want to give up so much. I think the main concern would be if you could continue to be stable with changing the way you live. I am so frugal it's funny. I make it like a quest to get what I need without paying for it. What can you live without? What do you spend money on, and can you find a way to get things without spending money? Would you have to move?

If I am talking about what I can do without, I stopped buying books and use the library, or Kindle unlimited. I get free stuff from Craigslist and make it better. My bedroom set was free, I made my own chalk paint and painted it for a new look. I grow my own veggies and can and freeze them. I buy plant seeds and make my living space a jungle. I wouldn't give up internet, or video games but I would happily live without TV or cable. I breed my own chickens. These are the things that make me happy.

 

[grit]

This is very personal decision and it is hard to compare values especially when the details are not known. I have taken silly jobs in the same organization almost four years ago at the beginning of my demise of starting therapy just cause I could not think or be at my optimum (dissociation was quite high) and kept up for a while. Just this year I am back to closer to where I want to be both responsibilities and pay. and now I am aiming at a higher paying with more responsibilities jobs because my attention, focus, and ptsd is under control. However, during this time I was also in school to get education for my dream job and realized that I do not want to get paid for my dream job and that I would prefer getting paid appropriately and do my dream job as a hobby as not to mix my bread and passion.

This is not for anyone. I am in high income couple and I like making money now cause I focused relationships in my earlier days....my healing ptsd unleashed my potential in ambition.

So again very hard. My thoughts about your post is that if you can live as comfortable as you could, then take it but honestly I realize over the years, financial freedom does help mental health to a point...even at minimum you can afford therapy easier.

ps. I want to add lowering my jobs impacted my resume negatively and honestly I had to work harder to get back...but that is that too...optics of fake corporate world!I am still the same person.

 

[Freida]

I think it depends on what matters to you - and what impact the pay cut will really have.
If you take the job does it mean you can still pay your rent and other "living" bills but give up the fun stuff like eating out, vacations, etc for a while?

If so, maybe approach it backwards and write out a list of why you wouldn't take it. The whole pros and cons thing. Because sometimes what makes your soul happy is way more important than what makes your checkbook happy.

 

[Friday]

So the question is what would you be willing to sacrifice in your life for your dream job?

Nothing. Not one thing.

Because I don’t value much. And what I do value? I will either take with me, or rate accordingly. (Also known as having my cake, & eating it, too.)

 

[Muttly]

I did it. I took a job that had a significant cut in pay. But it was my dream job. And I ended having to sell my house because of the cut in pay. And that was incredibly hard. I miss my home. And for a while life was really hard and stressful. Having said that, given the same choice I'd do it again. I'm doing what I was meant to do. Home is more something I carry inside than where I live, so I've made a home out of this place.

 

[FauxLiz]

Sorry, didn't mean to disappear for so long. I am currently working an interim job that I had thought three weeks ago was going to be my future. In that time, I was offered what equates to my dream job. I will still be working with public sector organizations (local & state government, K-12 schools and non-profits) but unlike the past 15 years and this interim job, I won't be a local government employee, I will be working for a Broadband Internet Utility, assisting organizations with obtaining broadband internet for their organizations and in their communities. No longer will I be working 40-80 hours a week depending upon the time of year and what is on my plate, no longer will I be a "public figure" subject to scrutiny and gossip via social media and traditional media.

It is going to be a challenge, I am accepting a substantial cut in salary (approx. $20K) but my benefits - medical, dental, vision, retirement etc will be better. And more importantly, I will get to have a personal life without worrying about every thing I ever say or do being scrutinized through a political lens. I will gain stability, no longer will my employment be at the whim of the most recent election and whether the winners like the job I am doing.

So, things will be getting more challenging not less over the next few months but I am really hoping this move is an improvement for my mental health.

 

[mylunareclipse]

Awesome! Congrats! Are you moving for the job?

 

[Muttly]

Congratulations

 

[FauxLiz]

So the interim job that I am working (end of April through mid-June) in Florida is kicking my butt in terms of so much to do and so little time. The problem/struggle I am having is that in spite of all the challenges, I have been given the opportunity with this position to work with other executive-level managers in the field and for the first time in over a decade I am really enjoying the work. Yes, there is a ton of issues/challenges that the organization currently faces none of which are insurmountable, and even though I know the current enjoyment won't last (the help is on a short term contract as well) it is making me question whether leaving the career field is the right decision.

I am also questioning whether or not my fears of managing financially in the dream job due to the substantial pay cut is the underlying emotion driving me to reconsider my career change. I freeze every time I have to take a step toward the dream job (finding a place to live, completing all of the online on-boarding which has been substantial, determining whether I should delay the start date, and see if I could move up a surgery that is currently scheduled for Oct to take place before I start the new job as the doctor is insisting on me taking 2 weeks away from work and I hate doing that to an employer in the first few months at a job let alone in the first year) and all kinds of other fun decisions, etc.

I need to stop letting my cognitive distortions control my life it is just difficult and frustrating because the closer everything gets the more anxious and depressed I am becoming and that was what I was attempting to prevent with the career change.

 

[FauxLiz]

As the time approaches to transition away from the career that I have had for the past 15+ years to the dream job I am really beginning to struggle with the decision. I have been working in an interim position for the past 6 weeks with Friday my scheduled last day. I am getting a lot of pressure for lack of a better word to take on the interim job long term and forgo the dream job and I have to say that it has certainly caused me to reconsider the decision many times. The reasons for leaving this career field haven't changed, though there are days when I convince myself that they are not as bad here as in my previous positions. The fear of the unknown though is what is killing me. The dream job is with a very large organization that has been difficult to navigate the pre-employment process with a single form having been returned to me three times for revision as it is verification that I can legally work and completing the process and submitting it electronically along with the copies of the necessary documents has created challenges with it appearing as though the information is in the incorrect location, poor quality transmission making different areas unreadable and just general challenges that come from trying to complete work remotely that would traditionally be completed in person.

At the same time, with the uncertainty that has hit me as the interim position ends and I feel as though the dream job is in limbo I have continued to apply for positions that would keep me in my current career field but for larger organizations at a reduced role. The hope is that I don't end up unemployed, broke, and essentially homeless due to the challenges of distance. I have completed a phone interview for one position (I am not very hopeful that it will lead to an in-person due to my perception of the HR recruiter's attitude towards me during the interview) but I should learn by the end of the week early next week if I am moving on in the process. I have completed a screening questionnaire for a second position and was informed last night that I have moved to the next round which is down to 9 candidates for a virtual interview but it is a job that may take longer to fill than I can afford to wait.

The two jobs I am currently in the hiring process for would provide an increase in income rather than a reduction which I have to say is preferred for me currently, in both cases I have individuals that I am friendly with that I would have the opportunity to work with/for which would make the transition easier but neither position is going to give me the freedom from scrutiny entirely that the dream job would provide. I feel like I am a mess. I have never been in a situation in my life where I had so many opportunities/potential opportunities at one time. I have always either taken the first job offered to me because my fear of being unemployed is greater than my fear of hating the job/career.

With businesses coming out of the COVID restrictions, there are jobs that I can get in the short term to assist me financially, I waited tables and bartender from the time that I was legally permitted to work up to and through most of my marriage either as my only job or one job of two or three jobs I was doing at any time to support myself and be able to pay my bills. I am currently living and working in a high tourism area that has had few restrictions in place for months so if necessary and I was able to coordinate schedules I could most likely work a couple of different places and make enough money to pay my bills but not enough to pay my health insurance.

Sorry this is so long, I am just feeling like I am a hot mess this week. My T "forgot" to schedule our session this week on his calendar and scheduled someone else in our normal time slot. So I am dealing with all the transition, fear, uncertainty with not really anyone to talk it through with as my family members are adamant that I change career paths (my kids for different reasons than my extended family) so they don't want to hear that I may not leave the field.

 

[mylunareclipse]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!! I am not sure what will happen. But whatever happens you’re a badass! I remember when they moved you to this temp position and how devastated you were and you took that and turned into a place of all these opportunities. You should really be proud of yourself! I hope the best will happen for you. Sorry your T forgot to schedule you, that would hurt.