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Just Plain Ungrateful

I have a fantastic job. I get to do work that is meaningful. I genuinely believe that the work I do is important and positively touches people's lives.   I like the environment I work in. The job is fun and rewarding. I am well compensated. I have enough money to pay for my son's food (also his tennis lessons and inevitable braces). I have money for breakfast burritos and books and occasional fun dresses. 21% of my annual salary goes into a healthy retirement account. The people I work with treat me with respect and kindness. Most days the work is pretty low stress.

Every word I just typed is true. That means that the rest of this post is clearly just the whinings of an ungrateful woman.

The schedule is the WORST. I only work 40 hours a week, but those hours are used to cover a seven day a week facility. That means the schedule is always changing so it feels like I work ALL the time. I can't join a community organization because I regularly have to cover different shifts. The crowds of teenagers hanging out can get exhausting to deal with. The bureaucracy, although minimal and mostly non-toxic, is tiresome. But the real problem, the biggest problem, is I'm bored. I've been in the same place with the same duties for seven years now and I'm certainly not growing.

I want to turn the page. I am trying to turn the page. The page, and my career, is stuck. In the last 2 years I've been on 5 or 6 job interviews with no new job. I am somewhat constrained geographically because of my desire to keep things stable for my kid. If not for that I would have taken a job in Alaska by now.

So where does all that leave me? Well, I guess I just have to keep going to my well paying job with excellent benefits where I am treated with respect. And keep thinking about Alaska.

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