The purpose of this blog is to inspire those that are miserable at their job, who feel their wasting their life away hours at a time, or just plain uninspired in what they do. Having a job where you feel this way is completely counter to how we should live and, frankly, it’s a waste of existence.
“Depressive symptoms” spiked 39% among employees 18-24 and 24% among age group 25-34 according to a new article by Barron’s. The article can’t quite put its finger on why there was such a surge, but broadly suggests technology had something do with it. Maybe it was lack of fulfillment in their job. Maybe it was their boss. Maybe they feel like an animal caged, wishing to run free while instead chained to a desk and computer.
I’d be willing to bet a lot of it had to do with DEBT.
There was another big statistic from 2018 just released by Bankrate (I told you I read a lot) that claimed 36% of Americans lose sleep over money. So we have roughly a third of the country aged 18-34 both suffering “depressive symptoms” and losing sleep over money.
If you’re overloaded with debt, swamped by the number or amount of monthly payments, then going in to a job daily that barely covers those payments, you’re going to feel like A) you don’t make enough and B) you’re not getting anywhere. I know this for a fact because I’VE BEEN THERE. Your monthly bills, plus groceries and miscellaneous expenditures, is called your monthly “nut.” This is how much you have to make in order to survive another month. When your take-home pay barely covers it, it’s totally defeating. You’re stressed, down-in-the-dumps, and in desperate need of a pick me up or fun. You call up a friend to go out on a Saturday night to relax. When it comes time to pay the bill, you’re short (you’re just barely covering that monthly nut, remember?).
So you charge the bill to your credit card.
You’ll deal with it later. Right now is time to ride that shot of endorphins in your brain. You have a good time because Monday it’s back to work. A month later the bill comes due. Your monthly nut just went up…but your take home pay didn’t.
So you become depressive. And you lose sleep. So you need a night out to get that hit of “feel good” endorphin to help you relax. So you charge it to your card…
The point is, this is a horrible death spiral. And it’s everywhere! I worked in retail for nearly 12 years and almost every single co-worker I’ve ever worked with did this. “Future be damned!” “I’m working for the weekend!” The great disaster is the one that lies at the end of the road: A lifetime of living like this means you’ve been an employee for your entire life and you’re completely fried from the work-go out-debt cycle that has eaten you (and your wallet) alive for decades.
But there is hope. You can break this cycle! It’s absolutely possible. The first step is standing up to it. Acknowledge – shit, get angry – that it stops now. You have to really WANT it. Not, “I’ll quit smoking after this last pack of cigarettes” want it. WANT IT. Quit now. If you REALLY WANT IT, the next step is to make a plan. To break the cycle, you need to either increase your income or reduce your debt to free up cash every month. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to be posting how I beat this death spiral (just too much to add to this one post!)
Take a breath. It’s going to be fine. Debt can be conquered, no matter the size. You don’t have to trade life for wage forever. You too can Quit Your Job!
Quit Your Job 