Money or Passion?

There has been something that I haven’t told all of you yet. I have hinted at it in a couple of tweets, but I haven’t really come out and say it completely yet. I didn’t want to jinx anything or say it too early.

W has quit his job.

He had one week of vacation left and coincidentally he chose for it to be this week (he chose it around 6 months ago without even knowing that he’d quit).

Now, some (probably most) will say this was a dumb decision. He made decent money (while only working less than 30 hours a week), had completely free insurance (no deductible, copay, monthly premium, etc), and they paid for school. There was also a lot of other benefits.

He hated his job. Just that plain and simple. He worked for a union and it was really bothering him that people who don’t work at all (and just sit all day long) make the same amount of money as him. He also hated that raises were not based on how hard or well you worked. Every month all he would get was a piece a paper saying that he’s the best worker.

People at his work would not show up (this was the norm), would hide in corners, choke him (this actually happened one day), would steal, etc. And no one would get fired because the union is so strong. Someone at his work has been fired 98 times and has gotten his job back EVERY TIME, all because the union would fight for his job back.

So this means, that even if he did get someone fired, they would just be back the next day.

He’s tired of working just for the money and hating his job everyday. I’ve been telling him to quit for years and really go for his passion. He didn’t want to quit because he didn’t want to think about starting over with a new career. This is also why he hasn’t gone back to school. He was afraid of starting over with a new job.

But now he is going to go for his passion. He has a new job lined up (not one in the field that he would love to be in, but it’s still a step up) and will be starting classes soon in an area that he loves. He’ll be making less for around a year, but after that, his pay is expected to go up with his new experience.

I am so happy for him!

Why am I happy that he’ll be making less?

1. Days will go by faster for him. He’ll be doing something that he will prefer, instead of just thinking about the end of the day and going home. He won’t dread work (as much as usually).
2. He’ll be happier. He would always come home and talk about how he yelled at someone new that day and they didn’t care because it was a union and they would get their job back no matter what. Now he won’t have to deal with that.
3. With experience, he will be back up in pay eventually anyways. What’s a year when it means that you will feel unstuck?
4. He’s not the type of person who cares about money. He couldn’t sit in an office all day like I could.

With me, I am a little different. I really don’t know what my passion is, so I went with Finance. I definitely can’t say that it’s what I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid, but it’s really not too bad. Time flies by during the day and it isn’t overly stressful.

With my job, I am able to do a lot of things outside of work that wouldn’t be as possible without the higher income that I make. I wish I could say that my work is my passion like he will soon be able to, but I am happy with what I chose.