My own personal "quitting threshold" that clues me in that the job I have isn't right (which so far have all been teaching/adjacent jobs; hopefully I'll remember that in the future) is I start fantasizing about very minor car accidents that would keep me from making it to work. During my first year back in Seattle, I had a job teaching an open level ballet class at a university rec center. I took the bus and about three weeks into class, I found myself hoping there would be a minor accident that kept me from making. Nothing that caused major damage and definitely nothing that caused injury, but enough that I just couldn't show up. Recently, I briefly had a mentorship job at a high school in town and about three weeks in, I found myself hoping there was an accident on I5 that kept me from making it. As soon as I realized this was a regular thought I had, I quit the job because my energy wasn't going to help anyone.
Thank you for this post. It touches on stuff we've been talking about in our house. I copy-pasted a bunch of this into an email to send to a friend (linking here, of course).
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about burnout (occupational burnout and neurodivergent burnout), perfectionism, and rest (physical, mental, emotional, social, sensory, creative, spiritual) in the last few years! Looks like you’ve been doing some good reflecting.
Also “the great unfolding” sounds like a laundry revolution!
My own personal "quitting threshold" that clues me in that the job I have isn't right (which so far have all been teaching/adjacent jobs; hopefully I'll remember that in the future) is I start fantasizing about very minor car accidents that would keep me from making it to work. During my first year back in Seattle, I had a job teaching an open level ballet class at a university rec center. I took the bus and about three weeks into class, I found myself hoping there would be a minor accident that kept me from making. Nothing that caused major damage and definitely nothing that caused injury, but enough that I just couldn't show up. Recently, I briefly had a mentorship job at a high school in town and about three weeks in, I found myself hoping there was an accident on I5 that kept me from making it. As soon as I realized this was a regular thought I had, I quit the job because my energy wasn't going to help anyone.
Thank you for this post. It touches on stuff we've been talking about in our house. I copy-pasted a bunch of this into an email to send to a friend (linking here, of course).
<3
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about burnout (occupational burnout and neurodivergent burnout), perfectionism, and rest (physical, mental, emotional, social, sensory, creative, spiritual) in the last few years! Looks like you’ve been doing some good reflecting.
Also “the great unfolding” sounds like a laundry revolution!