My job is Making me Sick

Introduction

You are unhappy in your job but applying for jobs does not yield the desired result. Whatever you have tried, the situation does not change and even becomes worse. What is left to do? In any case, what you really do not want to do is let your health get affected adversely. Do not, under any circumstances, let a job make you sick! Here are two examples of persons (not real names) with issues followed by advice (solutions) on what those people should do.

In the end, I will give you my ultimate solution to having problems at work.

Problem

My name is Bob and I have been working for my current employer for three years now, and these were three very long years because I feel all the time that I do not like the job. With the result that I am irritable, regularly report sick, and reluctantly go to work.

I graduated three years ago and I got this job because the employer saw a talent in me. In the meantime, I have applied at least twelve times, but I am still here.

Getting tired

In recent years I managed to perform reasonably well and keep up with the work level requested. But now even that does not work anymore. My results are considerably below par and I am sick more often than before. Nevertheless, I never resigned because of the student debt that I have with my employer.

Leave?

Despite that debt, I now think about informing my boss that I do not like the work anymore and want to leave. I hope he gives me time to apply and reduce my student debt. What stops me is that I’m afraid my employer will immediately put me on a sidetrack and try to get rid of me. What is the best thing to do?

Solution

We do not believe that you are choosing the correct solution, but the real question is how you can make something of your life. You have been in a job for three years and you are fed up with it. You are irritable, probably not only at work but also at home. You report sick every moment and if you do go to work, that is reluctant. Do you not think you’ve held on to this work long enough?

Education

The employer has invested in you with an expensive education so that you have substantial student debt. We assume that you have signed a study contract with a reimbursement scheme if you leave within a certain number of years. You will have to accept that consequence when you leave. On the other hand, it can only be expected that you will become even more unhappy than you are now if you stay.

Applications

Twelve times you have tried to find another job. That looks a lot in your own thinking, but nowadays it is not much. You do not write how you searched for other work. We suspect you only looked at vacancies on the internet or in the newspaper, and that you did not use social media or made contacts via your network. Responding to vacancies is not enough, because then you are one of the hundred or more applicants. 

Talk to boss

Of course, you will need to talk to your boss. That will not be an easy conversation, but it will give you the possibility to finally say what you have been thinking for so long. Do not be tempted to resign immediately, but negotiate an acceptable period in which you will apply in a targeted way using social media and job marketing. And by the way, how bad is it that your employer temporarily puts you on a sidetrack if you want to leave?

So give yourself the chance to become happier in the next job than you are now, and accept the consequences of the choices you make. Even when you become unemployed, there are many things you can do. 

Problem

Imagine: you just returned from a wonderful holiday of three weeks. Charged and full of new inspiration you go back to work. But that euphoric mood disappears like snow in the sun as soon as you get your old familiar desk insight. No nice exchange of holiday experiences, but you just start your computer.

Lisa

It happened to Lisa: I had been walking around for a long time with a feeling like, “Is this it?” but after my holiday I thought about bringing new energy into my work. Nothing could be further from the truth and from then on it only got worse. I thought: what am I doing here? I already know everything and I can do it blindly. I had days when I had a great day at work, came home at 17.15 and then had to cry very hard.”

Solution

Lisa did not realize it, but she is showing the typical symptoms of a lady who is totally bored with her job, even to the point where she is getting sick. These symptoms are a feeling of depression, tiredness and tension probably as a consequence of absolute boredom and a lack of challenge as the cause.

People like Lisa are not happy and look for all sorts of causes for their stress complaints and depression, but often do not realize that it has to do with an insufficient challenge or – in a more advanced stage – with complete boredom. These are often people who have been thinking about their careers fruitlessly for a longer period of time.

Look at herself

To recover from this situation, the first step is that Lisa looks at herself in the mirror and admits and acknowledges that she suffers from boredom.  Step two is creating a challenge. This can be done simply in two ways: immediately quitting her job and starting doing something else, or making your current job more interesting in one way or another. 

Unemployed

Quitting your job, without having another option, is often a daunting perspective. Read here an article about how to handle a situation where you get unemployed.

If another job is not an option, then contact your supervisor in any case and look together at the possibilities. Maybe your employer offers you the opportunity to take a course, or you can get other work there. Or maybe changing positions within the company where you work is an option, so you will be able to broaden your capabilities.

Conclusion

However bad the situation at work, always make sure you do not have any physical or mental health repercussions. Believe me, nothing in the world is more important in the end. Needless to say that you have to take action, one way or another.

This article helps you recognize certain issues and teaches what can be done. Other articles on this site give advice about other issues that can result from bad work situations, particularly in the case of bad blood between you and your boss.

If you are in a situation of problems at work, feel free to share your issues on this site and I will come back with all the support I have.

Ultimate solution

There is one possibility left unmentioned here so far and that is becoming your own boss, which means in effect running your own business. No more troubles at work, no more nasty bosses and or colleagues. In this day and age, the internet has become one of the most powerful tools ever. Internet business is everywhere and the thing is, literally everybody can have their own internet business. It is just a question of how.

Change your life here!

If you are willing to invest time and a little money, you can opt for the best internet (affiliate) business support program there currently is and has been since 2005: Wealthy Affiliate (WA). Join them for one week for free through the link in my review and you will have a website on your first day and you will experience the world’s best, scam-free training and support in setting up your own business and then monetizing it.

Intrigued, but having a lot of questions? Leave them in the comment box and I will reply within 24 hours or read my detailed review on how WA works, I have been a member of six years, here.