Hi all -
Apologies for somewhat rambling post. Really interested to hear from others who have found themselves in a similar spot and how you got out of it and what you took into consideration when making your decisions...
I am 35, have a DH, one toddler and another baby on the way in a couple of months. Both DH and I are high earners, me @ $120k a year and DH @ $90k a year. DH has more room for advancement in his line of work than I do, I am about as far up the career ladder as I am likely to get without making an (unwanted) jump to the VP/C-suite level positions.
Problem is that I've experienced intermittent burn out through my 10 years in this career and I'm in the middle of it again. My line of work involves heavy work loads that are driven by external deadlines (i.e. deadlines that I cannot ignore, influence, change, or manage). Additionally, my current work place is bogged down by ridiculous processes and bad technology that makes everything a hundred times more difficult than it needs to be. Every day I'm miserable when I turn on my computer.
I want to pull a mid-career, mid-life gear switch. I've stuck with this career for a decade and it's never been particularly rewarding. It's financially rewarding, but it's exhausting and frustrating and I really don't do a damn thing to make the world or my community a better place, so there's no real intrinsic reward or motivation to it either.
Biggest trouble is... this is what I've done for the last 10 years... what do I want to do instead? What WOULD be rewarding? I have no idea. My job sucks up enough of my time and energy that I really don't have hobbies or activities outside of my job and family that I could look to for some inspiration. The closest thing I have is from about 5 years ago when I burned out the first time, I switched my career into a training role for about a year. And that was relaxing and enjoyable, and rewarding too - I do like helping people learn things. But at this point, switching gears into that role would likely mean working towards a MS degree, which would mean more time and debt, to eventually land in a job that would pay less money.
I'm not sure how much time and money I want to invest into more education for a new career track... honestly I just want to switch into something different without having to start completely over at the bottom. If I had a clear sense of what I *would* enjoy doing for a second career it might be an easier decision but I don't even know where or how to start figuring that out.
Does anyone have advice or words of wisdom?