I'm one year into a position that is a very unique situation. I'm making $90,000/yr and am due for a raise this week. My target number is $120,000 and I very well maybe able to get there. We'll see.
It's a completely unhealthy, always-on, fast-paced position. Technically I get three weeks paid time off, but I've had zero time off in the last year and I don't see that changing in the next year to come. Trust me, if it was okay to take the time I would. I get called late at night multiple nights a week, I get called and have to work many weekend weekends, texts at 3am. There's no way to change this. It's the CEO. I can't plan a life outside of work, because heaven forbid I'm in a movie or something and don't answer my phone. There's never a time to "check out" completely. I have my phone with me at all times and at any given moment I have to stop what I'm doing and handle some (most of the time imaginary) fire.
The flip-side, is I have a very senior role in a very fast-growing company. There's a long list of people who have made millions (without hyberbole) by working for this CEO. I report directly to him and am on track to get stock options, large bonuses, a huge resume builder and frequent large raises.
I'm fucking miserable. This job is unnecessary stressful because of the anxiety issues from the top down. There's too much work and not enough time to do it an nobody cares. If it was physically possible to work 24/7 I still wouldn't be able to handle the work load (and I'm an efficient and fast worker).
Another consideration is my husband is a full-time student working on a change of field. He's been struggling to find full-time employment after a layoff last-year, than another layoff after starting a position with a different company back in January.
I keep waffling. Some weeks I'm fine, other weeks I feel like my heart is having a physical reaction to the stress!!! Today is a bad day. I don't want to miss-out on this opportunity to be able to retire in two years because I make a big payout here, but I also don't want to jeopardize my health and sanity. It's not a sure thing that I will get millions, but I've done extensive research on previous businesses my CEO has been involved in and have talked to many people who are now retired at a young age because they stuck with it in his past companies.
I'm kind of just venting and curious to see what kind of response I get. Maybe there's advice for managing? I get regular massages to help deal with the stress and have tried Yoga, but it's not really helping.
I keep thinking I can do anything for a year. Well I made it through a year and it was tough. Now I'm thinking I can do one more year at least. But it's already proving to be harder than the first time around...
EDITED TO ADD: It would be fairly simple for me to find a job paying $50,000-$60,000/year that would be less stressful. (I get the occasional head-hunting call) I could also full-time freelance fairly easily as I've done this in the past. But I like the idea of killing it for a couple of years and being done. So I've put myself knowingly in this situation