I’m in a bit of a weird spot right now career wise. I’m not particularly comfortable with the situation and I feel like this is probably something that a lot of parents struggle with, so I’m going to lay it all out here and see what happens in the coming months. Hopefully, this will all work itself out, but the in between time right now is killing me.

My current job is not one that I love. In fact, most days I feel pretty ambivalent about being there. My job is relatively mundane, or it has been until recently. I am currently this.close to being done with my master’s degree, and because of this, I am forced to look at my current job and life situation and decide which direction to go. Initially, I took this job because it allowed for a flexible schedule to have time with my kids, which is incredibly important to me. However, it is not fulfilling at all, and with my educational prospects, the idea of changing jobs and perhaps moving has been coming up frequently in the past few months.

The conflict I am facing is this: If I take a new job, the likelihood is there that I will have significantly less time with my kids. I really don’t know how I feel about this. I know that for many parents, work is something they really enjoy and that makes them better parents. I think that I fit into that category somewhat, but I also feel like the right time for me to really get involved again in my career will be in a couple of years when the kids are in school and maybe don’t need me as much. Even in typing this, I feel like a whiner and a baby about it.

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So, the opportunity has come up that I could potentially stay here, where I currently am, in a job that does incorporate my degree and my passion, but could mean more hours here and less at home. I have to fight for this position, which financially would make a lot of sense and alleviate some of our money woes, but the trade-off is less family time. I feel frozen with fear about this decisionĀ and the idea that no matter what decision I make at this point, there is going to be a sacrifice somewhere.

My other options are to start applying for jobs that are specific to my degree, but very few of those are less than full time, or I can stay in my current position, have the flexibility to be with my family as much as I want, but make significantly less money and be essentially wasting my degree.

I feel stuck. My heart is telling me to wait it out and see if there is a job that comes up that is a best of both worlds situation, but my head is telling me that moving up and taking a job related to my degree is better for the family in the long run. When I think of seeing the kids less, I get pretty emotional about it, and I’m not sure if this would be the right choice. Long term, moving up would mean for a lot of great opportunities in the future that would mean much more financial security.

In full disclosure, I hate what I am doing right now but I feel (and have felt) like I am doing it because it works the best for my family right now. There is part of me that likes that this is easy and I am fully capable of doing this job. But the other part of me is bored out of my mind, and quite frankly, I am a little embarrassed about my job. It is not something I am proud of, and even though it provides for my family, it just kind of sucks. I’ve been going back and forth for a couple of weeks about this, and I can imagine that this is something so many parents face as they navigate through the family and work conflict. It does help me to know that I am not alone and that other people have lived through this and made hard decisions.

Please tell me there are other parents who have had to make these kinds of decisions. I know I am not alone.