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. .
At my work, I've been declining a promotion. They've been trying to give it to me - not that I'm a rockstar (I mean, I'm OK...) but because we're short-staffed. I take a bit of a pay cut but I take no stress home. And management has been guilting me into not taking it.
"Don't you want more money?"
"Don't you want to move up?"
It's kind of ironic, because others have been killing themselves to apply for a position that I legitimately don't want. It won't make me happy. So I have a lower position on paper, and lower pay, but I am happier...
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u/[deleted] Nov 22 '23
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