
Gettyimages.com/Teashop owners helping customers
It’s hard not to give into the idea that you should always choose the higher paying job, no matter what. I don’t know if it’s our consumerist mentality that tells us that if we don’t have enough money for bottle service and first-class airfare, we are “broke.” Or if it’s our survival instincts, telling us to just hoard money for worst-case scenarios. But I’ve known a lot of people—myself included—who eventually realized that money really doesn’t make you happy. Well, let me edit that: money can alleviate concerns and remove stress. Having enough money so that you don’t need to worry about paying for food and shelter is important. It doesn’t necessarily make you happy but it removes unhappiness, and that’s a big deal. Excess money, however, for a luxurious life does not make a person happy. That’s just one of the reasons you should get a job you love over a high-paying job you hate.
You won’t “live for the weekend”
You don’t want to be one of those weekend warriors who just black out their whole week because they hate it so much. The weekend shouldn’t be some light at the end of a very dark tunnel. That’s so sad.
You’ll always do a great job
When you love your job, you’ll always do a great job. If you care about the outcome, and the way your work affects other people and the world around you, you’ll pay attention to detail and always go above and beyond.
Which means, a raise could be in sight
When you love your job, you do a good job (as mentioned before) and then you could have a raise in your future. So really, having a job you love doesn’t have to mean low pay forever.
You risk slacking off at a job you hate
If you have a high-paying job that you hate, you are bound to slack off and try to cut corners. When you just don’t care about the work you do, your work will never be excellent. And that means you could always be at risk of just getting fired.
A lot of money can be stressful
Several studies have actually found that, beyond a certain income point, money actually causes people more stress than happiness.
It’s literally most of your week
You spend most of your waking life at work. In fact, you spend over 70 percent of your waking hours at work. Seventy percent. Life is too precious to waste that much of it on something you hate.
Less nightly dread
If you have a job you hate, every night, when you clock out, dread will set in. You won’t even enjoy your time off because you’ll just be busy counting the hours until you have to go back to work.
You’ll feel good about how you spend your time
If you have a job you love, you can actually feel proud about how you spend this precious life on this planet. Life is a gift—it shouldn’t be squandered on work that isn’t important to you.
It will energize you
When you have a job that you love, you somehow find more energy. The chance to do something that matters to you every day gives you energy. Whereas, a job you hate will always leave you feeling lethargic.
Hating your job is bad for your relationship
Having a job you hate is bad for your relationship. You’re just grumpy when you get home. You complain. You become cynical and negative. Nobody wants that in a life partner.
Hating your job is bad for your friendships
Hating your job is bad for your friendships too. You become that curmudgeon who people dread asking, “So, how are you?” The answer depresses them.
You can’t take money with you
You should make enough money so you can save a bit, invest for retirement, and leave a little something to your loved ones. But obsessing over having exuberant mounds of money is silly. You can’t take it with you when you go.
No money can chase away depression
You may think that, so long as you make a lot of money at your work, you can just buy things and experiences to cancel out the depression your depressing job causes. But no amount of money can drive away depression.
Bad jobs make you too tired to spend money
Also, you’ll be so exhausted from your high-paying but awful job that you won’t even take the time to spend the money. You won’t take those trips and go to those shows.
You’ll attract other passionate people
If you have a job you love, you’ll attract other people who chose to spend their lives doing things they love. Those people bring light and positivity into your life. Those are the people you want around.