Dear Coleen
I have a job in a shop and I’ve been doing it for 10 years. It’s not well paid and has virtually no prospects at all, but I love it.
The problem is, my wife wants me to be a bit more ambitious and try to get a job with better prospects and pay. This is causing a bit of friction between us as our house could do with some money spent on it.
We do have a mortgage on our house which, along with the bills, we pay between us.
I don’t know what to do, as I don’t want to leave the job that I love.
Coleen says
I think if you truly love your job that’s worth more than a pay rise. I wouldn’t be quite so definite about that if staying in your job meant you weren’t able to contribute your share of the household costs.
But you’re paying your way and you could get something else with better prospects and pay, but be as miserable as sin and unbearable to live with. I’m sure your wife wouldn’t like that either.
I just think it’s so important to like what you do to earn a living because you spend most of your life doing it.
I see so many people who are unhappy at work every day and have spent 25 years hating their job, but cling on to it because it pays well and gives them a nice lifestyle, so they feel trapped.
Maybe the compromise is that you agree with your wife to look around for another job, but unless you’re offered something that will give you as much satisfaction as the one you’re in now, then you won’t jump ship.
