Jay walked into my office because he knew I was unhappy. He was the senior partner at my law firm in Washington, DC. I was scheduled for vacation and the partner I worked with had assigned me that would interfere with my free time. Jay noted: I’ve been in this job for 25 years and have never had a work free vacation. He told me that I should think if this type of career was for me. His inadvertent career counseling was helpful. It was one of the final straws that made me realize that big law firm life in a big city was not for me. But, it was not because of having to work on vacation or even having to work so much. I am a hard worker by nature. I feel more comfortable working than not working. However, I need to enjoy my work.
As soon as I found work that I liked, I never minded working on vacation. To be clear, I’m a a work-balance guy and on vacation I’m mostly playing but I not only don’t resent putting in a couple of hours of work but I actually enjoy it, makes me feel purposeful.
I told this story to Mike when he last came into my office for career counseling. Mike had some similarities to me. He didn’t mind working but he realized that he hated his work. And, that’s what made him resent working on vacation so much.
If you have unhappy work takes up an enormous amount of daily life, you likely realize that it creeps into your vacation time as well.
If that’s the case, time to contact Career Counseling Connecticut.