YOLO - You Only Live Once & Then You DIE...In Memory of Connie

I hate it.

I feel like I’m wasting my life.

There are so many things I want to do, but I don’t have the time or energy because of my job.

What if I only live once?

~Worker Living in Ohio

 

This is a plaque I made to remind myself to live each day fully…it’s a quote by Thich Nhat Hanh

This is the only life that we are SURE that we will have.

We are living it right now…our lives…we need to PRETEND like we will only live once.

Now, what will you do today if this is it…all there is…this life…right now?

P.S.

I few years ago I texted my friend Connie to make sure she was okay.  She wasn’t. She was dying. I remember talking to her friends and family who were at her bedside and they told me that she wasn’t expected to make it through the weekend.  

Death is real.  It is coming for each of us. Each and every day that we wake up and “pretend” all of the crap in our lives is important.   It’s not.  We know it’s not, but we keep on pretending. 

As I reminisce about my long-time friend Connie and how much she taught me by how she lived her life FULLY…FULL OUT…nothing stopped her…nothing…nothing…nothing. Honestly I don’t even know if her dying from cancer really STOPPED her because of the impact she made on my life and many other lives.  

We have all had Connie’s in our lives…teachers, mentors, big brother, big sister, showing us the way, giving us advice, asking about our progress, cheering us on, showing us the possibilities, being our true friends in this life…you know the type of people who you know you were destined to meet along your journey…those are the Connie’s… 

…So…Connie is gone and one day so will I and so will you. That is real. As real as life will ever get. 

So Live Fully…FULL OUT

P.P.S.

As my reminder at 2:14 p.m. EST on January 11, 2015 I got the call from Connie’s husband that she had died that morning. 

 

Big Risks = Big Rewards; No Risks = No Rewards

1)I am completely and utterly miserable in my corporate marketing job – this is the big reason! 

2) My boyfriend and I have talked about it and can make it work. I will take some time off, head out west to visit some places where I could see us relocating when he finishes his dermatology residency. He can’t wait to move! I’m more hesitant but this is a great time in my life to take some time away from the corporate grind and look to our future.

3) I am a miser and have saved every penny for several years. AKA I have a healthy savings – and my boyfriend will cover our rent while I am “in transition”.

4) I also have considered and have begun seeking out temp/short term contract marketing assignments. Just to keep my toe in the professional water – and, oh yeah, some money coming in!

5) Did I mention how unhappy, unchallenged and unfulfilled I am in my current career?!? Yeah, that.

It is ridiculously scary and I can’t believe I am considering making this a reality, BUT, there is also something very liberating and exciting about it too.

Big risks = big rewards, right?

~Worker Living in OHIO

“Just Quit” is taking a risk. 

Things might not work out the way you planned, but guess what? Things aren’t working out now.

Living our lives to the fullest is going to require that we take calculated risks. 

If you have a plan, if you have a plausible plan, this can all work out. 

You might actually wake up and WANT to get out of bed.  You might be excited about your day.  But you cannot get to the big rewards, or the light at the end of the tunnel, until you go through the transition.  You have to transition from your current job to your new pursuit. 

You can do it. You can.

Come Up From The Brink and Do Something About Your Career Today

I simply hate my job. 16 years of my life has been wasted on a mindless job with terrible hours.  

~Worker Living in Ohio

Year after year after year we sit in mindless jobs. 

Jobs that don’t fulfill us. 

Jobs that pay the bills but not much more than that. 

Jobs that interfere with living…with our lives. 

It doesn’t have to be this way…not year after year after year. 

Times are changing. 

People are waking up. 

You can be a part of this awakening: living authentically, doing work that you love, coming up from the brink, to live with purpose.   

Clarity: Knowing What To Ignore & Letting Go of What Is Not Working

I am thinking about quitting my job without another one because I need clarity.

I spend so much of my life working or in school and worrying about if my decision to quit will affect my entire family.

I know I need to take some time off to find some clarity, but I get so nervous that I always talk myself out of it.

My brain is fried and my body is weak. I just can’t take the fact knowing that I am still working in hell.

~Worker Living in OHIO

Today, ask for clarity, right now and today.

We need clarity to be able to make a good decision.

We need clarity to know what to do next with our lives.

We need clarity to know how to move forward.

Ask for what you want and need.

Clarity.

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

Feeling Like A Fish Out of Water? STOP Trying To Be A Fish.

I start to panic on Sunday evening when I think about going to work on Monday. I stay up as late as possible to postpone the inevitable.

I feel like a fish out of water at my job.

I have been getting sick frequently, gained weight, and have skin problems because of the stress.

I stopped caring about the things I used to enjoy. I truly don’t want to do anything in the evenings or weekends because I’m just so exhausted from my job.

~Worker Living in OHIO

After we make our list of why we think we need to “Just Quit” then we need to counterbalance it and ask ourselves: “Is it possible that things could get BETTER on this job? Is there anything that might happen on this job, in this place that would make me want to stay?” 

Listen for the answers.  

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

P.S.

Half the time the problem we have is that we try to be like everyone else.  Or we do what other people think we should do.

Until you have the courage to be YOU and do what YOU are meant to do…you’ll always feel like a fish out of water… even if you SHOULD be happy (because you have a job or you’re making decent money). 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE?

Three Magic Words

Turn Your Cant's into Cans & Dreams into Plans

My job was making me feel worthless.

There wasn’t anything challenging about the work & my coworkers were negative & sucking the life blood out of me.

~ Worker Living in OHIO

 

If you are reading this then you are alive.

You have blood running through your veins. 

Okay, great, now live and stop existing and being scared.

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

Live Your Life and Forget Your Age

About six months after I started my job, I realized it wasn’t right for me. I hate my projects, the company and for the most part– I don’t care for my team.

I’m just not at all passionate about what I’m doing and I am watching time tick away in a job I hate while I should be making a change.

~Worker Living in OHIO

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

All we have is 24 hours a day. 

Everyone only has 24 hours a day. 

This is your life. Live it while you live.

Chronic Job Stress Is Like A Cancer...Remove It & Live Out Your Passions

I hate it. I wake up every day mad because I have to work that job.

It’s a cancer in my life and future.

~Worker Living in OHIO

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

You can make a change.

You can remove the chronic job stress that is like a cancer in your life. 

If you have identified that your job is like a cancer in your life – you can remove it and heal yourself with work that does not cause you pain.

P.S.

After more than two years of reading and meditating on the survey entries I believe chronic job stress CJS (that’s what I call this phenomena that is happening across the globe) is like a cancer.  It is slowly killing people from the inside out.  

Thinking of it that way – like a cancer –  I am pondering:

1. what is the treatment for CJS?

2. how do we give CJS sufferers empathy or at least sympathy and understanding?

3. how do we give CJS sufferers support?

P.P.S.

I feel like I am coming full circle with this blog post. I don’t know why, but it feels like puzzle pieces are coming together. When I started this blog I had the dandelion theme, let go to let come from Theory U, the tag line (for individuals, organizations and countries) came while I was in a conscious dance class (countries??? it just kept coming back that countries would be impacted by the work I needed to do) and now all the people who are painfully employed feeling like their jobs are a cancer in their lives. Something new is being born…just waiting for this new thing to be born from all of these bits and pieces over the past few years…  

  

Taking Care Of Yourself Is A Priority When Miserable In Your Job

I don’t have any time for myself. 

I’m at work 13 days straight and have one day off. I don’t have any time to work out or to go to school at all.

~Worker Living in OHIO

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

Today, make time for yourself. Find a way to do something towards your mental, emotional or physical health.

Do not “think” about doing it. DO IT.

Today, just do one thing for yourself that will bring you joy.

Give Respect To Earn Respect. Respect Others Today.

Four years of abuse, name calling, threatening, lying, blaming and I can go on and on. I went to the EEOC on my manager and even called the police on him for beating his wife in the store. I had to babysit his little daughter while working.

Now there’s a new manager and I had to put up with name calling, back stabbing, prison mentality, incompetence and ignorance. I can go on and on.

It’s taken me to the point of drinking and I’ve lost so much self-esteem.

~Worker Living in OHIO

You are reading from the book “Just Quit” & Live

Abuse.

This is what is happening in the workplace today. Abuse.

Not having a basic level of respect for one another.   Thinking it is okay to abuse one another.

Regardless of if you are a manager or not, today when you walk pass your employees/co-workers greet them and treat them with respect.  Just for today, focus on a basic level of respecting every coworker that you come in contact with. Even if it’s just a smile. Just a good morning or how’s it going greeting.  They are human, you are human. That’s it. 

Just think, if you and you and you and all of us reading this today treated every coworker we meet with respect what could happen…respectful workplaces where people want to be and want to contribute their talents and time.

Life is Too Short To Be Skating By In A Job That You Don't Like

You are reading from the book  “Just Quit” & Live 

Q: Why do you want to quit your job EVEN if you don’t have another job lined-up?

I have not been happy in my job for a long time but just did not have the money to quit. Every year at the end of the year I start to get that dreaded feeling.  I start having anxiety attacks when our busy time comes, but I have somehow muddled through. I’ve always been afraid of the decision and not having the money.

My brother passed away recently and my way of thinking has changed. Life is just too short to be skating by in a job that I don’t like. I am burned out.  I am tired of people yelling at me. I am tired of coming home completely exhausted and I want to go to sleep.

I am tired of being unhappy.

Now that the financial issue is no longer an issue, and I have the money to cover my bills, I feel I can now do this.

~Worker Living in OHIO

Today’s Meditation:

Life is too short to be skating by in a job that you don’t like.

If you stay in this job will you regret it at the end of your life?

It’s just a question, but it is a serious thought-provoking question. Answer it…Will you?

Doing Our Thing

You are reading from the book  “Just Quit” & Live

Q: Why do you want to quit your job EVEN if you don’t have another job lined-up?

I am no longer happy with my current job. And my part-time business, though the income is not stable, is promising.

~Worker Living in OHIO

Meditation/Reflection:

How can we not have OUR own thing? 

If we don’t like the job we are on; how can we not be thinking about and pursuing OUR thing? 

Why wouldn’t we be?

Finding Our Purpose

You are reading from the book  “Just Quit” & Live

Q: Why do you want to quit your job EVEN if you don’t have another job lined-up?

I hate what I’m doing. I hate my responsibilities. I dread coming into work each day. I’m overwhelmed with the work I’m doing. I feel like there is a greater purpose for me.

~Worker Living in Ohio

Meditation/Reflection:

There is a greater purpose for each of us. 

Finding our purpose requires that we find our path…our life path…our life’s work.

That path is a daily journey and that journey requires that we take steps.

Every step leads you down a path; even those paths where we feel like we are going sideways or backwards.

Keep taking the steps on your journey, on your path, towards your purpose. 

Trusting Ourselves

You are reading from the book  “Just Quit” & Live

 Q: Why do you want to quit your job EVEN if you don’t have another job lined-up?

A: The stress and pressure is difficult to bear. I am being manipulated and used to work the job of multiple people with no extra financial incentive. There is a limited amount of support and trust existing between myself and those above me. The accusations never stop! I am always defending myself, biting my tongue, and being viewed through faulty lens.

~Worker Living in OHIO

Today’s Meditation/Reflection:

Today, I will trust myself.  I will trust in my abilities. I will trust that I will get through the trials on this job.  I can trust myself to make the right decisions about what to do next.

From “Just Quit” & Live by Ridea Richardson ©2014.  All rights reserved.

Just Quit & Live is available for purchase via Amazon.