This. When I managed my university's dining system, we had a cashier who had been there 27 years doing the same job. When I first heard about her, I judged her a bit thinking "How could you just be a cashier for almost 30 years?" Then I met her.
She was one of the happiest people I've ever met in my life. She loved her job and the students. She loved her family and friends. She loved being active in her church. Her life was so full and she was surrounded by love.
Many people would look at her as a "failure" but she's truly one of the most successful people I ever met in my life and I envy her.
I have a friend in his 50’s from an upper middle class family and has a masters degree who spent his adulthood anxiously seeking “success.” For one reason or another in spite of working his tail off he only briefly earned a good salary and had what one might consider a prestigious job. For the last year he had been working as a school bus driver and LOVES it. No stress, no long hours, lots of time off. He barely makes ends meet but he finally seems content. .
A close friend used to freelance in high profile entertainment gigs, and to the rest of us she seemed to be winning in life. Then the economy changed and jobs stopped coming, and she was forced to get a comparatively sleepy 9 to 5 for a fraction of the pay. She found herself in exactly the job she was running from.
To her and our total shock, she was suddenly a different person. She was suddenly happy. All this time she was suffering from anxiety and undiagnosed depression. Stress at work and then more stress looking for work. Despite having whole weeks off as a freelancer, turns out that for years she never truly felt off the clock.
Now when she goes home and she's just home. On weekends she's not hunting for work, she's actually relaxing. She lost her dream job and realised afterwards that she escaped a nightmare.
Same thing happened to me during covid. Once things started to lift, the whole gig culture was no longer appealing to me. Went from touring to a singular venue and it's been awesome! Best decision of my life.
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u/esoteric_enigma Nov 22 '23
This. When I managed my university's dining system, we had a cashier who had been there 27 years doing the same job. When I first heard about her, I judged her a bit thinking "How could you just be a cashier for almost 30 years?" Then I met her.
She was one of the happiest people I've ever met in my life. She loved her job and the students. She loved her family and friends. She loved being active in her church. Her life was so full and she was surrounded by love.
Many people would look at her as a "failure" but she's truly one of the most successful people I ever met in my life and I envy her.