The things we love and hate about work

The opening statement [in Joe Humphrey’s article “We work fewer hours”] is not my experience. Fewer people employed to deal with the same amount or more of work has increased workloads and driven up stress in places that I frequently visit. I also observe a real fear of further job losses, and more people are getting in earlier and staying later in the hope that it will help somehow.

The reality – for those looking for a job and those in a job – is often quite brutal, and there are employers (and workplace bullies) who are quite okay with that. TomBob

I love my job. Things change every day – new patients, new tests, further advances in medicine – and we have to constantly improve our knowledge. I also work a longer day for less money, but such is life. CiaraNíMhurchú

I think that if we are truly doing what we were “born” to do, we will find joy in our work and we can handle any of the trials that come our way. But many of us are trapped in jobs that are not ideal, and the risk involved in starting over to find the thing that really brings us joy is a detriment to the willingness involved to take that step.

Overcoming the disappointment of going to a job that doesn’t fire us up takes a significant amount of inner strength. How will we provide for our families? How will we pay the bills? It takes great courage to do it.

I stepped out of the corporate world to raise my two children. I felt it was the best way to bring stability to our family. It was the right decision, but do I “like” my work? Not always. I don’t get paid, I’m on call 24/7, and holidays aren’t really holidays, because I’m minding the same people during holiday time as I mind every day.

Fortunately for me, I can take the time when my kids are at school to tap into those moments when I’m doing the thing that I was “born to do”, and I find extreme joy in doing it, so that when I’m doing the less dramatic tasks of laundry, dinner and homework I can look forward to those rare times when I can be creative and expressive as my own person. Bottom line . . . we won’t like our work 100 per cent of the time. But we can overcome anything if we set our mind to it, and we can have a quality of life that will bring happiness if we pursue it. TerriKruschke

Work is a means of putting food on the table and keeping a roof over my head. Our labour keeps our employers in a wealthy lifestyle. I regard it as a terrible waste of life. NollaigLonergan

I dreamed of having a career that I loved. The problem was that I was never fully sure what that career should be and still am not. I can’t see a job simply as a way to put food on the table. When you spend the majority of your week doing your work, I think you should enjoy it. I try to say not I hate my job but rather I hate aspects of it, and feel that I have more to offer than my job asks of me. I acknowledge I am very lucky to have a job, but that doesn’t seem to make my job any more enjoyable. Helen_B27