We are facing an epidemic well beyond Covid. Mental health issues have been rising dramatically well before the pandemic. The last year and a half has accelerated mental health decline but “we” – young people in particular – were becoming less mentally healthy for the last couple of decades.
There are many factors underlying this crisis. There are many solutions to help improve mental health. But you are on this site because you likely are pondering job or career change.
Some good news: you will have better mental health if you have a better job. Seems simple but I have noticed that many new clients of Career Counseling Connecticut will only connect the dots after our first meeting.
“I’ve been so stressed for the last [couple months- couple years]. Now I feel better.”
Why is this the case? Our clients feel there is hope for a better job and know intuitively that they will FEEL better when they are in a better situation.
I was “fortunate” in the late 90s to have a couple of really bad bosses. I was an associate attorney so most bosses – law partners at big firms – were really bad! But even within the realm of overbearing, micro-managing, and obnoxious law partners, I had the good luck of having a few on the high end of each. I am not being factitious about the luck. They were so bad that they forced me to take action. I have a friend who has had a long and semi-miserable legal career in part because his first few bosses were pretty decent. He stayed in the law and has been semi-miserable for… years… no decades!
In any event, I’m psychologically strong and always have been… except during those few years when I had those bad bosses. My people pleasing nature (there was no pleasing these guys!), my identity as a high performer, (they criticized everything possible) and my love of autonomy (they micromanaged well beyond that word) made my days long and my mental health suffer.
I felt hope only when I formed a plan to leave that environment.
I felt better as soon as I did.
Now, as I provide career counseling to those unhappy in their careers, my greatest satisfaction comes from those who tell me that our process not only affected their careers but their entire mental well-being.