4-7-8 Breathing Technique For Stress

I have major depression. I can’t imagine going another day doing what I’m doing and where I’m doing it.

I’m burnt out and on the verge of a breakdown.

My career provides zero satisfaction and I’m not utilizing my talents and interests. I’m dead here.

~Worker Living in California

We are not dead.  We are alive. We only feel dead.

We only feel depleted and depressed, but we are alive.  Because we are alive that means we have more to do. We have a chance.

Today, get up.  Just get up and breathe in to the count of four, hold for seven, and breathe out to the count of eight. Close your eyes, focus on your heart area and rhythmically breathe.  You are alive.  You have a purpose. 

This suffering you are experiencing is helping you to move forward towards that purpose.

 

Have You Talked To A Loved Ones About What's Happening In Your Career?

It is a dead end job. I hate my boss and my co-workers.

I’m underpaid, because of the bad financial situation of the company. But it was worse than now when I came here, and I’ve been working hard and helping to improve the company. I feel like I’m subsidizing the company with my effort because I’m not paid fairly.

I’m young, free and ready for roaming the world looking for a better opportunity. (It would be hard to find something worse than my current job). My boss smokes in the offices – he is rude and dirty. The company’s organization is a mess.

I’m sure this is not the job I want for my future life. When  I think of being in the same job five years from now I think about suicide.

I’ve not told anybody about my decision, because of the high rate of unemployment in my country. My friends and family won’t agree with my decision. I don’t know what I’m going to do in the future, but it’s my life and I only have one life to live.

~Worker Living in SPAIN

It is our life. The only thing we know for sure is that this is our life and we might only have this one chance to experience life.

Step 3 of the Just Quit Steps is to gain support from your loved ones for your decision.  At some point you need to let them know what you have decided to do. 

You should expect them to try to talk you out of it.  You should encourage them to try to do so. They might have thought of things that you haven’t thought of.  REMEMBER THESE ARE PEOPLE THAT LOVE YOU. 

Talking to loved ones is hard, but it is part of the process.  We are individuals, but what we do impacts other peoples’ lives.  We have to be respectful and considerate of that. 

Today, are you ready to tell someone that you love what is happening in your career?  Yes or No.  If yes, proceed.  If no, wait.

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.

Stop Being "Nice" (a.k.a. Stupid) and Get Real About Your Career Situation

Retail drains me! It isn’t a career; it’s merely a survival job.

I’ve had enough of rude management, rude associates and most of all rude customers.

The only thing that is good is that I get paid weekly. Otherwise, there’s no reason for me to stay since there are mostly cons: I’m physically sore in my hips. Sometimes my feet really get wrecked. Stupid, juvenile coworkers who mainly live on the Southside. They need this job because they have kids or a man they gotta take care of (another kid!).

Subpar training. You’re expected to know everything when they themselves don’t know sh*t. Monotonous, boring work. Saying and doing the same things all the time with no real excitement. Being phony-nice. I USED to be nice. Marshalls changed that. Putting on the phony nice girl act shows how unhappy I really am.

Now I barely get there on time. It’s over.

I’m so miserable at my job, it’s affecting my health. I feel trapped and stagnant and KNOW this is not how my life is supposed to be.

~Worker Living in NEW YORK

Look up the Etymology of nice….STOP being “nice”.

There comes a time when we KNOW that we need to change. Usually this happens when our misery starts to impact our health.

It doesn’t have to get to this point but when it does we have to get real with ourselves. No more being “phony-nice”. 

We have to take action and do something.  We can live the lives we’ve imagined…we just have to start. 

Refuse To Settle...Or Make The Best of It...Or Stick It Out...In An Abusive Workplace

In the realistic and financial scheme of things, I have the luxury to just walk away from this job because I have no obligations nor do I pay any bills.

In the emotional and meaningful scheme of things, I have no desire to work for, make better, or help this company PERIOD. The attitudes and points of view of my uppers are never going to change, so the retail side will NEVER change = Nothing will progress or be bettered. I have a problem “sticking it out” with a company that has no REAL future.

My work is not challenging. It’s not like what I had imagined. My boss is obsessed with putting me in the front lines, memorizing recipes and making drinks better than the store managers, but that’s not REALLY my role. (I wonder if this happens with other companies).

Lastly, my boss is the devil himself reincarnated onto Earth. He is the most negative and self- absorbed person I have ever met in my life. He has the ability to make me feel sick and want to stab myself in the eye with a dull pencil at the same time. No one has ever had that effect on me. Because of his negativity, the work environment is just CRAP. It’s toxic, at best.

It is past the point of trying to “make the best” of my situation. There really is no making it better — it is what it is and I refuse to settle for that. I do not ever want to settle for misery. I am passionate, young, a hard worker, and INTELLIGENT. I expect to be utilized, for my work to be meaningful, and for the job environment to be nurturing or at least bearable at the very least.

~Worker Living in CALIFORNIA

Times are changing. The sooner organizations realize that there is a generation of workers that are in the workforce who: “refuse to settle” or “make the best of it” or “stick it out” in jobs that are not fulfilling or where they feel abused; then the sooner workplaces will be places of productivity.

It is time for organizations to wake up. 

If you are a business owner or responsible for recruiting and hiring talent then be aware that your BEST talent is walking out the door. They might not be walking out the door to another “job”, but to a freelance opportunity or to start their own company.  Maybe it’s something that is so creative it will disrupt your industry.

Talent is walking because they don’t HAVE to take it anymore. 

If you are one of these young and talented workers and you KNOW it, then it’s time to act. Don’t look back. The old models of work are broken.  You don’t have to continue to stay stuck in a dead-end job working for a jerk. There are plenty of other opportunities for you.  Not only are future generations counting on you, but your parent’s generation is as well. It is your generation that is bringing forth a new way to show how it is possible for everyone to pursue their passions and still make a profit. 

These are exciting times in the world of work.    

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

Start From Where You Are, Determine Your General Direction...Set Sail

My boss is evil; she punished me because I was forced to take FMLA leave and when I returned, I was moved to another position with terrible hours.

I hate the new job and have no respect for my boss.

If I return, I will say something I can’t take back.

My benefits are really good, and I don’t have much money saved, but I have a husband who works.

~Worker living in NEVADA

We all have different situations and issues that we are dealing with.

Some issues are very serious and some are manageable.

We need to look at our own situations and start from where we are, determine the general direction we want to go in and prepare to set sail in that direction. 

Yes, Change Is Hard...Now, What Are You Going To Do?

I’m ready to move on. I’ve been at this organization over five years and have learned a lot, had some amazing experiences and helped to build new departments, but I am in need of a change.

I’m quitting because I want to spend more time exploring what this change could look like for me.

~Worker Living in ILLINOIS

Whether you initiate it or not a change is GOING to come. 

Change is what life is about. 

Eventually something is going to change: your job, your boss, your co-workers, whatever you service or sale, or your job duties.  One way or the other, something is going to change.

It’s now just a matter of how active you are going to be in the change that is going to come.  You can sit back and chill or you can decide to take control and explore what you want the change to look like. 

It’s just a decision.