I replied to deek's post but want to start my own thread.
My situation. Late 40s, husband mid 50s in low paid industry. Lost a lot of money due to bad investment decisions years ago, were aggressively catching up in the last 3 years .
Suppose to be at coast FI stage last year but my pay got affected due to covid , so hopefully will reach next year.
Hoping to retire in 6-10 years ,closer to traditional RE age for DH, so until then we still need to work at least part time to cover expenses, but we are both mentally tired.
Me:
High demand sales/corporate office job for 15 years ,loved it at first then got toxic manager, stayed for years for the money , got worse and worse, took 3 months off in 2015 , wowed to find something else, went back, as nothing in my industry paid nearly as good.
I was at a burn out stage for years then by last March I started having panic attacks, fatigue, insomnia, stomach cramps and nausea produced by anxiety, etc . Then suddenly I was on leave without pay due to covid ( but ended up getting some government benefit pay). I took a few months just to recover a bit, studied short course , then serious things happened in my personal life that put my mental health back to that dark place .. Then I got a physical job( on my feet and active for 8 hrs ) that is great for part time option but I now suffer from plantar fasciitis and can't stand on my feet longer than 3-4 hrs :(
Got back to my old, corporate job VERY reluctantly , only 2 days a week, and now 8 weeks later , I can't stomach it.
I give myself pep talk every day , I already called in sick twice as I just dread of going there. I took next week off as annual leave.
On paper it's great, good pay, only 2 days , new team, supportive-ish colleagues but in reality it's still very demanding , very busy, and now I need to read/ know / be across of what happened in the other 3 days a week.
It's not a job you walk in, do your job well , walk out on time.
Unfortunately I am realising that I am still feeling the effects from my burn out , my memory is much worse, I used to pride myself on being a fast learner and now I am super slow. I don't retain the information . I used to multitask with ease, now it fills me with dread. And I used to be a confident person and now I am feeling more and more inadequate , because I struggle with my job so much.
I just want a simple job , for now , and a bit stuck on options . Hospitality and retail is an obvious choice but I can't be on my feet . I am a nervous driver for any delivery jobs.
Talking all day makes me anxious now ( so call centre jobs are out).
Anyone else been in my situation and have any ideas/advice on " simple jobs". And yes, I am seeing a therapist.