Do you live for your job/career, or do you have a job/career in order to live?

[hedgehog]

[Journeyman]

1. I have a business which fulfills many of my needs -- intellectual, financial, emotional, and more...

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. job/career was always to live...joy/satisfaction from my family and hobbies

[timdog44]

5. That was always

the way I did it. So many the other way had no family life or hobbies. Then when they retired, if they ever did, did not know what to do.

[NRaleighLiberal]

8. I've got friends and family members that just can't let go....

they are miserable in their jobs - they have more money than us by a long shot, but it is coming at a terrible cost to their well being, from what I can see.

Once I got bounced from the corporate world (at 54), I did a bit of consulting - hated it - now am transitioning to try to eke just enough out of my main hobby to make a go of it....far more satisfying!

[Puzzledtraveller]

12. My dad was the model that I thought I was supposed to live up to

Being someone who just works to live I always felt like I could never have the life he gave me as a child but I know it came with a cost. Still, at times I feel like I'm just being lazy because I can't live up to or surpass his achievements.

[NRaleighLiberal]

15. That's an interesting one....because it depends on the definition of "achievement"

Because of the degree I chose (chemistry, PhD) and the type of job I took (big pharma), we did well for quite awhile - in a way, my wife and I were both the so-called "success stories" in each of our families. But it took its toll - my wife couldn't wait to stop being a nurse (pressure, relatively low pay vs responsibility vs the doctors) and I couldn't wait to get out of the corporate world. So now we have far less money and stuff and far more joy and far less stress.

but my two girls are taking different paths - and there is probably no way they will be able to achieve what we did in terms of dollars, but they will each have what I suspect will be more fulfilling lives...hope so, anyway.

[timdog44]

21. My older brother unknowingly put pressure on me

by saying that to be successful you have to have done better than your parents. My father was a Presbyterian minister with several degrees (mostly in languages) besides divinity. So I started out thinking that I couldn't do that and led a very unsavory life to start. After about 30 years of age, I realized that I had nothing to "bring to the table" when thinking marriage, I got it in gear. Started out in pre-med at U of Ill. But soon was disillusioned with the way our future doctors behaved. So I came back home and decided nursing would be a better way to serve. And that is how I finally met my wife with something to bring to the table. She is also an RN (we are both retired now). And I think we achieved "success" both in careers and fairly comfortably, financially. Even at that, our careers were so that we could enjoy each other and our hobbies and off job pursuits.

[timdog44]

13. Good luck to you.

And let us know when the book is done. Tomatoes.

And I have commented before on the Cherokee Purple. UMMMMMMM.

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. text due June 1, photography beginning - 2014 publication, it seems....

thanks!

[Flashmann]

3. Retired now

In my early years I lived to work......Later I worked to live...Now,I'm damn glad I'm done!!..

[timdog44]

22. Hear, Hear. nt

[RebelOne]

28. Retired also. But when I was working, it was to live.

I am also glad I am done working, but I am having to survive on Social Security now. I loved my job, and because the company downsized, I was laid off along with 3 others, including my boss. Fortunately, we were all give generous severance packages.

[Flashmann]

35. But when I was working, it was to live.

I ended my working years that way...I guess I'm a little lucky....I have a Union pension going,but if I draw SS before 65,in 6 more years,my pension reduces by the amount SS gives me,so I don't gain til then....IF then...Where the luck comes in,is my wife being 8 years younger and still working at a very good job....

Glad you got a nice severence..

[roody]

4. Am so lucky to be a unionized teacher.

[bettyellen]

6. been offered much more money to work with people and at places I'd rather not know or be....

how I spend those hours matters at least as much as the money.

so, somewhere in the middle- I love my work, but would surely be on vacation 24/7 if I could.

[patrice]

7. Re-jiggering right now, toward more for work as a manifestation of personal intent in the real world

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. Work to live. n/t

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. Work is the means at which I can live and do the things I enjoy

I have been and am forever undecided on what I really want to do so I settled on something that was available, that I had the requirements for, was stable, provided benefits and never had me working weekends, or holidays. It's pay leaves something to be desired but their is opportunity for upward mobility I have just been a little derelict in actually putting in the effort to move up.

[MadrasT]

11. Work to live

Lukewarm about my job but the pay is good

[hobbit709]

14. I owe, I owe. So it's off to work I go.

[cordelia]

17. Work to live, definitely.

I enjoy the work and the money's pretty good, so I'm really not complaining.

[hfojvt]

18. Every day I get up in the morning and I think

"man, I hope I get to clean some toilets and move some chairs today!!"

[FreeJoe]

19. Both

I love what I do for a living (computer programming and working with data), so it is both. Before it was my job, it was my hobby. It will be my hobby after I am done doing it for a living.

[mike_c]

20. probably a bit of both, but I'm very fortunate to have a career that I love....

I truly enjoy my work. I wouldn't necessarily choose to do it every day if I didn't need the paycheck, but there isn't anything I'd rather do instead, most days.

[Melon_Lord]

23. The military is a significant portion of my personality...

... and most of my life focuses on it, by choice.

It doesn't mean that all of the other parts of my life get pushed out but they often take second seat to my career.

[JustAnotherGen]

24. Do you have a job you love that allows work and life balance?

That's me. I truly love what I do for a living. I wake up every day and there is always a new fire drill or issue - and I get paid well to do it.

I think it shouldn't be an either or idea here. I kind of tripped over this opportunity after 15 years of Marketing/Go To Market - the core cut throat side of Corporate America - and into a wacky room of the house where we have a lot of fun! And my boss makes me look like Bull Connor with his out there liberalism!

[Glassunion]

25. Been lucky.

Found a job I love, I love my co-workers and employees even more. I take care of the company and boy oh boy do they take care of me.

However, I do not live for my job. Nor do I have this job in order to live. It is a balance between the two. I love working, and I love living. My circumstances and luck in life brought me to a place where I can enjoy both.

[Blue4Texas]

26. Food, clothing and shelter

Medical, dental, educate the kids, retirement and a few things I want but don't need

[oldhippie]

27. Retired now, but .....

.... for my forty year career I looked forward to going to work most mornings. Even for those mornings that I had a 150 mile commute to work for 21 years. Granted, there were some days that I would have liked to have done something else, and some days I knew were going to be a PITA, but mostly I enjoyed my work.

Now I enjoy being retired. Don't miss work much, as I have found other things to enjoy.

[pipi_k]

29. Been

retired for some time now, but my last job I worked for a guy who lived to work. It always pissed him off that I didn't share his sentiment. Not even close.

When the clock struck 5, I was out the door. See ya! Got other things to do! Other fish to fry!

It was a small company...no chance for advancement unless I wanted to murder him and take over...

It was not a career. It was a job.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

30. i love my job

and it affords me a pretty nice life (decent pay and benefits and good amounts of time with family and friends). don't think i could ask for too much more!

sP

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

31. Work is highly overrated as a pastime. Now, gleefully retired.

[KatyMan]

32. If I were paid the same amount of money

to stand in a bucket of shit all day, I'd consider it as an alternative.
I work the job that pays the most for the skills I have. Don't like it, don't want to do it, but it pays the bills.

[lumberjack_jeff]

33. "So, what are you?"

I never answer that question with a job title.

[Javaman]

34. I work at my job for health insurance.

I'll leave it at that.