I know I harp on a lot about how much I love my new job, but I really feel it deserves a full blog post.
Any of you who know just how much I hated my previous job, will understand how much this means to me, to be happy going to work.
When I say I hated my old job, it didn't start out that way, but it just wasn't for me. I stuck it out for 6 years too, so I certainly gave it a go (or more like got stuck in the salary trap alongside how easy the role was).
Being stuck behind a desk, at a computer all day long has never been for me really. Hence why I enjoyed hairdressing so much and have pretty much job hopped between admin roles before and after my hair career.
I think the point you know something has got to change is when you literally dread getting up in the morning and having to go to work. Even with the majority of my day filled with online shopping and gym visits at lunch, I hated it. It was soul destroying. It had got to the point where I wasn't giving the job my all and was sitting day in day out, putting jobs on the back burner because I just didn't care about it anymore.
We would forever be told "You are managers, you need to manage the situation"....... "But you have to do everything the way we are telling you, at this time, in this font, whilst standing on one leg and pulling a funny face"! BLEURGH!
Leaving a role that pays high in the £20k's when you can arrive any time before 10am and leave any time after 3:30pm, have no managers based where you are, can take medical appointments at no cost to yourself and have a generous annual leave allowance, all whilst paying into an ok pension and having friends as colleagues, is a very difficult choice to make.
This is how much I detested my job.
So, I took the plunge. I started looking for jobs that would complement my access course I am studying and applied to lots. Some I wasn't even sure what they were, but I applied. The one thing I noticed was that the NHS pay a lot less than the MOJ! Team that with the fact that I was having to start at the bottom in a new organisation meant I was going from a Band 4 MOJ to a Band 2 NHS. The pay drop was huge!
But, I went for it and got a job as a Healthcare Worker at the Trevor Gibbens Unit, a forensic mental health hospital. Now some people will laugh thinking, but you're mental and you're working at a mental health hospital....... maybe thats why I love it so much?!
Whilst on my induction for my new job, I was informed that a dear friend has passed away in her sleep, aged 29 years. No warning, a week before her wedding and it hit home big time.
IT COULD ALL BE OVER TOMORROW.
There is no time to be unhappy. Wasting years doing something you hate, living a dreary monotonous life that you just trudge through every day. Especially not just for the wage.
F*ck the money! F*ck needing a flash car right now! F*ck wanting that expensive handbag!
That can all wait. It can all be put on hold, for immediate happiness now.
4 years it's going to take me to turn my life into what I want, but I have already begun making the change.
In September this year I will be going to University, earning not one single penny. 3 years at university and I will be graduating as a Band 5 Midwife, back to my original MOJ salary a year after qualifying.
The difference being is that already I enjoy going to work. I never dread my alarm going off or getting ready for a shift. I walk onto the ward, can't wait to say hello to staff and patients. See how they all are. Chat to the patients, hopefully improve their day by even just a minimal amount meaning I am doing something worthwhile.
I actually went into work with D&V last week. I didn't want to let the team or patients down by them being short staffed and I didn't want to ring in sick. I was swiftly sent home as D&V on a contained ward isn't the greatest idea, but any of my previous colleagues will tell you I would've called in sick with a runny nose before!
I know my new job role isn't for everyone and there are people out there that thrive from being behind a desk working in finance or HR etc. Thats what makes the world go round, us all liking different things.
But, if you are in that rut of dread, thinking there has to be more to life, look at changing it. It difficult when you have things to pay for and responsibilities, I know that all too well *I stayed in a job for 6 years remember*, but just value your happiness more than anything else. Put it at the top of the list in your priorities.
Happy Wife, Happy Life as they say. I'm sure I'm a much nicer person to be around now I am happy and feel a sense of purpose.
One Life is all we have. Make it a happy one. xx
