Does work and career matter less to you now?

[Lynn]

I've just started a new job (from home thank goodness) and I had a woman here today to train me but we were having horrendous problems with the software which kept crashing and which hadn't been loaded properly so we couldn't get anything done. I kept thinking I should be really stressed but I just wasn't. This woman must have thought I was so laid back I was practically horizontal! But you should see me if Photoshop crashes! I think I have channelled all the ambition and energy I used to have for my career into scrapping and designing. Anyone else like this?

[Laura_A]

Until I started designing and then purchased TDC... career meant nothing to me. I have never been a career driven person. Don't get me wrong, I was a professional before my babies came... lender for a major bank... but I always knew that a professional career was not my 'calling'. Ultimately being a wife and mom is my career, but TDC sure has given me another sense of accomplishment that I would hate to lose!

[Lynn]

Isn't it cool when you find something you love doing regardless of how much it pays?

[scrapsandsass]

I am so torn lately. I totally love my job (not the owner). I think that I'm addicted to the chaos and craziness that surrounds me on a constant basis (which is not good). But I'm running a multi-million dollar company that needs tons of help/structure and we have no money/support from the owner, so it is always a challenge to find a way to make it happen. We lose people on a daily basis and have offices covering all of Washington state. It is a complex industry and there are always changes. I don't get paid nearly close to the level of work I'm doing, so that is a major frustration... my friends joke around that I'm the lowest paid (acting) CEO ever. And more than that, I'm constantly "put in my place" by the owner because she is threatened by the fact that I'm running things and she is burned out and not doing anything anymore. Instead of just being thankful that I'm keeping things going and making improvements and supporting annual growth, she is mean-spirited, paranoid and hateful. So I'm in a total state of conflict 99% of the time. There are days that I leave the office in tears or so worn out that I can barely think straight. But I haven't revised my resume or started looking for another job.

That being said, there is so much I want to do outside of this job. I think that what I really want, is to run my own business. I'm tired of doing it for everyone else and being treated poorly. Even if I ran my own business and didn't make a lot of money, I'd be happier because I wouldn't be constantly down-graded. But the financial side is the kicker. I can't just quit work and try to start a business of my own. So I need to really figure all of this out. I've been spinning my wheels for quite some time now trying to do that. DH knows that I'm getting to the breaking point. I think that if I could find a ready-made business that would generate even a minimal income, he'd support it.

I'd give up the idea of a "career" in a heartbeat if it meant that I could just be happy and create all of the time.

I think that digital scrapbooking (and TDC) has really helped to keep me from going insane. I can get totally frustrated with work and switch screens to TDC and get a chuckle out of someone's post or find an inspiring LO that makes me just want to drop everything to go home and play/create. I think that we all need to find that balance.

Sorry for the long post... I guess the topic really just hit me this morning.

[noralong]

I was very happy in my career, but when the company I worked for was purchased by a larger corp. my job became meaningless. So, I left, and I never have looked back. This was not a decision to regret!

Many people don't understand how I could be happy and fulfilled while not working or being a mother. Don't get me wrong, I would have loved to be a mother. But, because of my lifestyle, I have time to do things when people who work or have children can't. My home is clean and quiet, and we can work when we want, or just have fun. Definitely the life I want to live!

[d2vasquez]

My mother is an incredibly talented and bright woman. She has broken through so many barriers and hurdles placed before working women and doing this while going to school to finish up her Masters degree. She had to do this as she was a single mom trying to make ends meet but she sacrificed a lot in return - family wise.

So when I entered the working path - I had that pressure to be like her but felt the pangs when I had my first daughter - of wanting to just be a mom and be there for the day to day events. I used to push to get to the next point in the work enviroment but now I am not so stressed about it. I am in no position financially to stay home - don't think I will ever be - but I have been blessed to work in enviroments where family time is considered a priority. I am not a CEO or a manager or titled - but I do assist those that do hold such titles and do it well. Scrapbooking is such an outlet for me and all the things I have learned have helped me create mass marketing brochures for our company, wall paintings for board rooms, presentations for the higher ups, graphics for company manuals and given me the confidence to go and do try new things.

When I go to work - I know in the morning I check in here - do the blog and then move on to my work - lunchtime I start my layouts for the day - and on the way home I read my emails. I do this so that when I get home - I am just mom. I am a different mom than my own - and I am not entirely sure what she thinks of my career choices or non-choices - but as I grow older it doesn't seem to nag me as much as it did when I was younger. I am happy with just being a "worker b" with kids who are happy and loved.

[AndreaBurns]

I'm right with you! I was a teacher before I became a SAHM. The plan is for me to go back to teaching once all my babies enter school. However, lately, I just dream of being picked up as a IRL paper designer, or on a printed magazine CT/ Staff, or somehow making lots more money just designing, LOL! But if I want my children to go to college, and for Nate and I to retire comfortably, then I do need to go back to teaching someday. We're looking at 8 yrs down the road though, b/c it is super important for me to be home with Seth and future children right now.

[InLoveWithDOTS]

I am with you... I knew from the time I was a little girl that I wanted to be a mother. While I am enjoying working PT now, I will quick if and when it is not enjoyable anymore because my job is simply not my life!

As for Photoshop crashing, I know what youre saying! Just got a new desktop today and haven't downloaded PS yet and I am jonesing! LOL

[thequeenofquirk]

well, dh keeps knockin me up, so my 'career' plans are always pushed back! LOL!

but i'm like you, andrea, i would REALLY love to get picked up by a manufacturer and make tons of money doing what i love. BUT i also speak arabic and have the potential to make just as much $ as dh does.....so that always weighs heavily on my mind. while he's providing, i'm having fun. i could be doubling our income and THAT guilts me tremendously...sigh.....

[KimberlyGiarrusso]

When I was growing up, I always saw myself as a working mom. After the birth of my fisrt daughter, I went back. It lasted 6 months. I missed her every single day. All of sudden, the career I worked so hard to obtain, didn't matter. Luckily timing was right with her, and the pregnancy and birth of my second daugher that I was able to completely resign from my job. I have never been happier.

[scrapsandsass]

well, dh keeps knockin me up, so my 'career' plans are always pushed back! LOL!

... BUT i also speak arabic and have the potential to make just as much $ as dh does


Wow! Beauty and brains? You are one deadly combination, no wonder he keeps knocking you up. ;) Hee hee hee.

[thequeenofquirk]

LMAO!!!! hahahahahaha!!! too freakin funny! LOL!

[abbysmommy]

It's interesting to read these posts to get other's feelings and thoughts.

I work. I have a career. It's not "who I am," but it is "what I do." I don't second guess that decision, but there are moments of frustration with it. For example, I've had to travel a lot in the last 6 months, which wasn't normal or planned, and I didn't like it much. But, hopefully, that will come to an end soon.

[Laura_A]

while he's providing, i'm having fun. i could be doubling our income and THAT guilts me tremendously...sigh.....

Just because you're not bringing in as much as DH does NOT mean you're not pulling your weight! Don't undervalue how hard you work at home with 3 young children AND designing beautiful stuff on top of it. Heck.. if he'd quit knocking you up, you COULD do the career thing. LOL