The sun has long since set. The volunteers left hours ago. The last brave runner who refuses to give in to his screaming muscles, his exhausted mind, crawls across the finish line.The last six months have been grueling, at least by my standards. Starting a new job while still working at the old job was a bold move that paid off. The finish line is in sight now but still seems so far as my knees scrape along the asphalt. The last few weeks I've felt that the quality of work at both jobs had begun to suffer due to mental fatigue. This Thursday will be my last day of dual employment. I have almost two weeks off before I start the new job as (still hard to say) a high school teacher. Already my mind is working on a way to avoid doing this job for the rest of my life. Is that crazy? Maybe, but I just don't see myself staying anywhere for the next 25 years. Five or ten, maybe. I won't give up the dream, though. I will be a real princess!
Of course I post this sob story here because I can't get the desired response (sympathy mixed with pity mixed with admiration mixed with a back rub) from my girlfriend. She works seven days a week and averages under four hours of sleep a night. I feel a little awkward groaning about waking up at seven thirty. I look to you, dear reader, to aknowledge my heroic suffering.
Enjoy the 2 weeks off, drink less in week 2 than week 1. Give the new job a chance. 20 or 25 years sounds like a prison sentence for a serious crime but really, it's not so bad as long as the job does not suck. If it pays ok and you can get comfortable to the point where it's reasonably enjoyable and not overly stressful, why not go the distance? Otherwise, you will build something for 10 years (5 years turns into 10 really quick) then have to start over again just as you're pushing 50.
ReplyDeleteOk, that sounds a bit depressing. But it shouldn't. It's not like we regret not having enough fun in our 20's or something, because we did. We JUST had fun for as long as we could. We pushed it. We got it together a little late and now it's time to start the long final stretch to retirement. Then hopefully have a few years to just have fun again.
I know that sounds quasi-crazy but after working in the financial sector for over a decade, I can't help but think in terms of building towards retirement. At this stage you have to really look out for yourself. Start saving and if the place where you work has a pension plan, that's one more reason to stick it out until the end (forget about the possible impact of the global financial crisis for a second, assume it will all work out). Heck, get out around 60 years old if you can.
I am at a similar crossroads. I left behind a career of 11 years and all the benefits that were attached. The pension plan and the employee-employer RRSP would have been more than sufficient to ensure non-poverty at retirement. I bailed out just before starting the final 20-or-so year stretch. So now I start again but I am where I want to be long term and it looks like I may have a good place to work until retirement, with the government.
Bottom line, if you KNOW you don't want to go the full 20 to 25 there, don't wait 10 to 15 to get out. 5 years max then make a move. Leave yourself as close to 20 years as possible in one place to finish off that last stretch before retirement.
Of course if you stand to inherit a fortune or your spouse is sure to be extremely wealthy, none of this really applies. Unless you think doing it yourself is something worth shooting for.
But life can take unexpected twists, so it never hurts to look out for yourself at least a little bit.
I don't think this is the type of feedback you were looking for. This is so long it should be a post. Or maybe you do expect this kind of crap from me. Why wouldn't you, this is what I always do. I am so reliable in a way.
I do give you major props for pulling off that 2-job madness in order to be able to move and live in the city where you want to live. Mad, mad props. Finally, any chance you will ever get promoted to principal at this school? That would make it worth staying. Then you could sit in that office and just page people all day, like disorderly students, underperforming teachers. Sweet deal.
A principal...maybe
ReplyDeleteI recently heard that a girl I went to university with is the principal of an international school in Japan. I was actually not surprised, she seemed the type.
You, on the other hand...hold on to your dream of being a real princess!
To JM- I am glad that my tax dollars are paying people to write incredibly long blog feedback in the middle of the day.
Now, now. I wasn't at work. The department actually ran out of work by mid-day Tuesday, so we're off the rest of the week. I hope it picks up soon, I could use the extra cash!
ReplyDeleteThe key is that you feel just a little awkward complaining about it. Not awkward enough to stop before you start, though. If not the princess gig then maybe you could be a member of the landed gentry. Do they still have that? Landed gentry? Or get your hands on a fiefdom. Maybe they have some pockets of feudalism in Japan. Look into that, but don't apply for the entry-level serf position. They make it sound like management training...but it isn't.
ReplyDeleteWelcome new commenters.
ReplyDeleteHey Martin, I just skimmed your comment and that's some great advice : get extremely wealthy spouse.
But seriously, the part about having fun in your twenties but now focussing in on the road to retirement made me cry. I hope you are speaking financially.I know you are. Actually all your advice was very good and much appreciated. I guess that's the way it's done. Get a job, keep it, save for a few decades and bingo. Makes absolute sense. So, why do I feel like drowning myself in a river?
The principle of my school is a priest. I don't know if that's a requirement, but if so count me out. I love the ladies!! Any kind of promotion here seems to entail so much extra work and added responsibility as to nullify the extra income. I can settle for the occasional raise and drifting along.
I thought about the Landed Gentry option but my doctor says I can't wear pantaloons.
I hope I didn't sound like I was saying "fun is over". No, no, let the fun continue, by all means. But fun used to be a full-time job. I recall waking up at say, age 22, around, oh I don't know, just before noon on a good day and my first thought being "ok, who's going out tonight I wonder?" And that was a Tuesday. A busy day would have been skipping class, going for coffee, taking the metro down to Steve's to buy strings (woo, that was tiring), picking up a 6-pack, grabbing some 'za, taking a shower, playing guitar for an hour, tying my hair into a perfectly symmetrical pony-tail and heading out to the 'Tek or Monkey House or something. Smoke, beer, smoke, beer, smoke, beer, 2-for-1 'za, after-hours beer, late late movie at Pat/Anna's, walk home, sleep, rinse and repeat.
ReplyDeleteSo it's all relative. You can still have fun but you just can't recapture that lifestyle of pure lounging and luxuriating while working a full time grownup job.
When we retire we need to all move to the same town. And we can start living that lifestyle again. It'll chop a few years off of retired life but heck, it'll be fun.
So listen, start saving and try to figure out where we'll all move. I vote for here.