As someone whose career has not been one that provides gratification or happiness (other than making a lot of money) I've tried to pay attention to what "work" activities bring me happiness, or at the very least are enjoyable. I've been office bound my entire career, but I've noticed that I love physical activities. They can even be somewhat mundane but I think the combination of physical activity and accomplishing a task (seeing immediate gratification) pushes all the right buttons for me. There's a psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who coined the term "flow" where you lose track of time because you are so engulfed in what you're doing and how those tasks tend to create the most happiness. This might be something you want to think about and consider pursuing jobs that might encompass whatever it is that puts you in that "flow" state.
I love driving so I've thought about the truck driving angle but I'm not sure I'd want to spend much of my time dealing with jackwagons that can't drive. Sounds like a cool way to see some other parts of the country but it would also mean being away from home for a couple weeks at a time if I was a long haul driver.
I love real estate. It's probably the hobby I spend the most time on. I look up deeds, surf the MLS, drive through new developments, read zoning ordinances. I'm weird, I know. I've thought about being a real estate agent but an agent primarily works when everyone else isn't, especially if you are a buyer's agent and you're showing clients homes. That's a lot of weekends. Plus there's still a significant amount of time spent in an office. Yet if living a peak life is living an off peak life, as MMM would say, then maybe working weekends isn't that bad, though that's when all my friends and family are off.
I don't think I would mind working in a Home Depot or Lowe's either. As someone who is fairly handy I'm sure I'd learn all kinds of stuff in the beginning. A retail center like that would provide plenty of interaction with other people. I've also thought about working in a grocery store as a no pressure job, stocking shelves or something that has me moving around. Publix is a well known grocery chain in the southeast that provides health insurance to part-time employees, and they're ranked as one of the best companies to work for in the US. This would solve that pesky health insurance problem, depending on what happens politically.
A real estate agent will probably be the first job I seriously look into. I've already looked up what it will take to get my license. I'll have to find a broker that would take me on and decide if I was willing to accept how that office operates (so many hours in the office, making cold calls, etc.) If that doesn't work out, maybe the grocery store deal. There's a Food Lion right down the street and I'd love to walk to work. A Public is opening in another year or so. I would drive a few miles to work at one of the best rated companies in the US.
