Do what you love

and you'll never have to work a day in your life.

My husband generally loves his job. He has said, on multiple occasions, that if he ever won the lottery and never had to work again, he'd still go in. My mom, on the other hand, has always cautioned me again working with animals. She is a vet tech, but I think that there are days, weeks, months, that she is totally burnt out on animals. She has always said that at the end of the day, it's all just a job.

Thoughts? Do you do what you love & love what you do? Is it just a job? Is it something you're good at, but not a real passion?

Mine is just a job. It's alright. Kind of boring but I love my group of coworkers and it pays the bills plus some. Without my job I wouldn't have been able to pursue a lot of what I want to pursue. Plus it's got benefits and all that jazz. I'm more or less content with it. Very happy that because I have a good job I can do things I've always wanted to do but wasn't able to because of money.

IMe gree to a certain extent. I actually had a heated discussion with a friend about this not too long ago because she ridicules me for having a desk job and having a 9-5 every chance she gets while she works with animals.

Now, is this my dream job? No. But it's paying better than any other job I had before. I'm not "in the field" anymore, I'm not working for a non-profit but I enjoy my pay, no stress for the most part days, and a bunch of paid sick and vacation time. It allows me to not worry about money and have free time, especially on evenings, holidays, and weekends.

Oh yeah my job is very stress-free 95% of the time, which is nice.

I wouldn't want to stay at a job I hated unless it was the only option (but I'd still be looking). But I don't think a job has to be your 'dream' to be a good job. And I think for a lot of people there's a point you have to grow up a bit and realize that at the end of the day bills need to be paid, you need to feed yourself, house yourself, etc. And you need a paying job to do that.

Although I currently am a SAHM, I'm also a RVT. Never once was I bored and burnt out on working at the clinic. Depending on the day, I would be in the exam room with animals, manning the lab as lab tech (we did a lot of stuff in-house), working in surgery, or staying in the back overseeing and tending to all the treatments of the hospitalized dogs & cats (running fluids, doing insulin draws, pulling blood, cleaning cages-someone's gotta do it!, giving meds, etc.).

If I did have a bad day, or experienced any level of burn-out, it was directed at the human clientele. There were only so many days of calling pit bulls with the names of Kilo, Cocaine, Dimebag, MaryJane, Killer, BoneCrusher, Momma, etc. from the waiting room. I got tired of seeing said owners throw dying parvo pups onto exam tables by the scruff of their necks. I got tired of seeing 7/8-month-old puppies coming in with their ill-kept litters while the owners try to figure out how to get by with the cheapest treatment to maintain maximum profits, including letting the bitch die while keeping the pups alive. I got tired of clients whose dogs were dressed to the nines, including doggy tennis shoes, and then deal with them getting upset with us when they're precious princess or diamond try to bite through our jugular.

I never tired of the animals or the job itself. Just the idiots and morons and a-holes that walked through that door.

I am a firm believer in work is work and not happy fun time.


I can't say there is a thing out there that would pay me what I mke now that I would love to do and it would not feel like work. Even working with animals is a lot of work and it burns you out on your own.

I do like my job. But if I won the lottery I'd be gone quickly. I'd love to have a small farm and raise some meat and do some horse boarding but money has to come from somewhere. So until I strike it rich I work to support it all and don't complain about it.

I know to many people that go from job to job because its not the dream job. Give it up already and work and live your life. Your not going to make 30/hr working at a nursery or get to only work at a vet that cares for just healthy animals(seriously?!).

My friends know me as a workaholic. It's true. I love my line of work. I love working on top of a roof all day long, in the sun, the rain, when it's freezing, and when it's 100 plus.

No matter what I'm doing, the day ends in an instant. Nearly 15 years in my job, there has never been a time I did not love my job. I've hated some aspects, mostly people. But the work itself? I will be a happy man if I could do this for another 30 years.

I had a brief time working in a warehouse job. It was just a job. The days went by quickly, but in a different way. It wasn't fun. I just shut my mind off and went to a happy place for the whole day as the job required no skill whatsoever.

But every day is a new day. I'm always going somewhere new, meeting new people, dealing with new challenges, working with new technology, learning new things, teaching new people, and every day is different from the last.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the phrase, nor do I disagree with it. What I'm doing is work, and it feels like work. Before my current title, I'd come home covered head to toe in grease and dirt, arthritis in hands acting up badly, and exhausted. But I loved it, regardless, it was definitely work.

Ditto. I feel like some uncaring jerk for saying it, but it is the truth. We are going through all these interviews/surveys/etc at work, because they (shocker) finally realized that moral is really low and that they need to do something to stop the flood of people running out the door as the economy improves. When I sat down with my boss's boss, she kept asking what makes work fun for me, what makes it fulfilling. And there I sat saying "I don't care about work being fun or a social outlet. I need it to not be miserable, and I need to go home with enough money to pay my bills."

I worked in animals for quite a while. I taught dog training classes, I worked animal control, and I managed a horse farm. The fact that animals are my "passion" didn't make it suck any less to go out when it was 20 below zero and pull ice out of water buckets with my hands. I have things at home I love. I have passions I pursue after work and on the weekends. I have friends and social outlets. I need a job that pays me enough to enjoy them without stressing about money.

I love what I do - it's my calling and I find it rewarding and enriching. It's more of a lifestyle vs. a job. I'm on call 10 days (then have a four day weekend) and never know what the day might bring. It's stressful, sad with potentially long hours and little sleep but I never dread going to work. I certainly look forward to my four day weekends every other week, some weeks more than others, but I enjoy going in when I have to. I'm also rewarded with more than just my salary (car, gas, phone, discounted housing, health benefits, etc) and get to work everyday with my husband!

That said, if I won the lottery I wouldn't be too keen on working so much - but I couldn't quit my job entirely.

I have friends who took big promotions and moved across the country and hate it. They all say if they could do-over they'd choose to be closer to family and friends with less pay than move across the country again. You only get one shot to live the life that you want! Why sacrifice the important things (family, friends, etc) for a pay raise?!!

I know it's not possible for everyone but I do think it's important to enjoy what you do. I grew up with parents who hated their jobs. They are miserable on a day to day basis and live for the weekends. Not the lifestyle I crave, but they were able to adequately provide for their family and that's all that's important to them. I guess it's what inspired me, along with a myriad of crappy cubicle summer jobs, to go to college in search of a job I did enjoy.

I've worked in both animal fields, and non animal fields (more on the low end of salaries).

I delivered pizza for about three years in one shop, and really enjoyed it. I actually made decent money (had more than enough to play with), but it wasn't too serious of a job. When I moved around I tried to continue delivering but loathed it, though those shops had a low-volume of deliveries, and thus wasn't as rewarding in pay. I also never developed a relationship with the other employees, and so it wasn't as socially rewarding.

I worked in a grocery store and wanted to jump off a bridge. Everyday I walked in there and looked at the sign as I walking up to the door and just HATED it.

Every single animal job I've ever had, I've enjoyed. A few did make me ultimately quit, but those were more for ethical reasons than not enjoying the work itself. I've been at my current job (pet store retail) for now my fourth year, and I do enjoy it, a lot. Although, even though I love aquarium fish, and I love knowledgeable people that are really into fish, I kind of hate talking to newbies about fish . No one understands, no one listens to me, I get to hand over these poor fish souls to these people who are absolutely going to kill them and the people don't really care. Had someone ask me for a goldfish to keep in a bowl, I tried to explain why this is bad, why goldfish can't live in bowls, and the girl says "Oh, well I don't need it to live for very long". It just gets tiring and repetitive. But, there are tons of 'pros' to my job, and I do love most of the people, and I love talking about dogs and dog food and enjoy doing the computer work and buying for the department and even doing inventory and tagging. It keeps me entertained while I'm there.
But I'm at the point where fighting for an extra $1 an hour in my paycheck is getting ridiculous, I'm almost ready to move on because I've plateaued.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd happily quit. If I could live on that money the rest of my life, I would probably live a quiet life in a modest house enjoying my hobbies and whathaveyou. If it would be better to make an investment, I'd likely look at opening a dog center, boarding and training and whatnot. I would absolutely have a manager to run the day-to-day.

My job is just a job. If something happened where I never had to work another day... I wouldn't hesitate to quit.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike my job. But I'm not excited to go to work in the morning and I definitely live for my days off. I just kind of show up, do my work, and skidaddle when the day's over. Plus the pay + benefits leave quite a bit to be desired so I'm not really content there. I generally like the people I work with, generally like the animals I work with, but meh it's not my dream. I don't really have a "dream job."

Well, is it telling that if I won the lottery, what I would do with the money is open my own canine sports center..? And actually, my plan right now is if I get fired to pursue it as an option anyway.

It's VERY common for people working in the art field to enjoy their jobs working in art, yes, but they stop doing art for themselves too. They're just tired of doing art all day long and the last thing they want to do when they come home is do it some more. Because it "feels" like work in some ways. So what is that? You're doing what you love but you're not doing it for yourself so...? It's actually the reason I'm glad I work in design and I don't want to work in illustration ever. I want to keep the illustration stuff for myself.

But even when I'm beat ass tired and it's cold and I really want to just go home and do nothing, but I have to drag myself to training class instead, when I go home AFTER class I am always smiling, happy, and feeling fulfilled. OTOH it is a goal in my life to have a positive effect on the lives of other people and I feel like when I help them live in peace with their dog and enjoy their time with their dogs more, I'm having a positive effect on them. So that's really a big part of that I think. I don't know if it's so much doing what I love or doing something and directly seeing the way people react and how it's making them happier and their lives better. Same reason I'm interested in fitness training or physical therapy, not only am I interested in it to start but I could see right in front of me people's lives getting better.

So no, a job isn't "just" a job all the time to me.
That said my job right now is just a job and if I won the lottery I'm not even sure I'd go back in to get my stuff off my desk.

I do what I love. I've been passionate about training for years and totally fell on my feet a year ago when I got offered the job of a lifetime.

I work my butt off for the worst pay I've had in years, I turned down an awesome management job at a really nice restaurant to pursue the work with dogs and I don't regret it one bit.

I guess I'm like an unofficial apprentice, I have so much respect for my boss. He is incredibly knowledgable and just as passionate about it as me. I don't know where I would be without his guidance and support, either with my training in general or with Quinn.
Best of all, it actually fits in with the niche's I was most interested in anyway which is a bonus.

I tell him all the time he's an idiot for paying me for something I'd do for free. But ofcourse the fact that he pays me means I can do it 30 hours+ a week instead of 5 or 8 trying to fit it around another job.

The other half of my job is washing and drying at a groomers (they are a husband and wife team), I can't say it's my passion and it is seriously probably the most frustrating thing I've ever done but I'm not going to say no to learning more skills.

I know the money will come over the years as I'm worth more. I have no plans to try to go out on my own anytime soon and I can't imagine anything better than helping these awesome people build something amazing with their business.

Zookeeping is TOTALLY the job for me. I love it with every fibre of my being. It doesn't feel like work. It feels like fun. Yes, that's right, I think shoveling and hosing **** is fun. For reals. People think I'm crazy, but I'm dead serious. I got to clean the barn on Christmas eve and I ****ING LOVED IT.

Working in a vet clinic? Uh, not really. I mean, I'll do it if it's a full time job and a decent vet, but it's certainly not my first choice. I definitely got burned out at the vet clinic...years ago.

If you want to work with animals, you need to narrow it down. I'll work in a zoo in a heartbeat, but I have to think long and hard about anything else.

I've been zookeeping in some capacity for nearly 9 years, and I love every minute of it. I mean, it has its down sides, like when an animal you care for every day and you bond with dies. But fortunately, that's not often, and certainly not as often as it is in a vet clinic.

I would probably die of boredom being a deskjockey. There's a reason I have only had 2 jobs not related to animals - one was as a librarian and it lasted 3 months, the other was data entry for USPS and it lasted 7 months.

If I won the lotto or something and never had to work again, I'd volunteer at the zoo on at least a part-time if not full-time basis. I love it.

For the most part, I love my job. I go through periods of pretty significant burnout, though, and it can be a source of a fair amount of anxiety in my life. If I won the lottery or something, I wouldn't walk away completely but I might limit my practice to acupuncture.

I struggled with this for a long time, because I found a job that was perfect for me on paper. Long hours filled with walking down sandbars, driving boats and trucks, finding birds, and being outside every single day.

What I found was that some days I love my job. There are days when I just can't wait to get out on the river and see what's going on. And there are days when I just don't want to get out of bed. I'm sore and I'm tired and I'm dragging my ass up at 6:00 to look for birds that I have seen a hundred times.

But really the discontent happened when I wasn't doing anything with my leisure time. I expected to feel fulfilled by work alone, and it just wasn't enough. Once I started really making social connections outside of work and allowed myself to be...maybe...not jumping up and down with enthusiasm all the time, I really became a lot more content with what I do. I can honestly say that I do love my job, but it isn't my sole reason for existing (which is what I used to think "loving my job" would mean).

I am also an EMT, and that is a world of extremes that I'll have to revisit when it's not past my bedtime

I don't know if there is a job out there that I would truly love... if there is, I haven't found it. I'm kind of of the mindset that a job is a job and is necessary to live, but I'd like to think it's possible to go to work every day doing something that I enjoy.

My current job is ok. It pays decently, it's giving me different experiences, and I for the most part enjoy the people I work with. But it does stress me out quite a bit. All day knowing I have to go to work tomorrow has stressed me out and I hate the feeling of dread that I get thinking about work. I go because I need the money, and it's not miserable, but I certainly would rather be doing other things. My last job was also just ok. I liked the laid back atmosphere and the awesome discounts I got on dog supplies, but it was brain dead boring most days and I really can't say that I enjoyed putting stock away on a daily basis and dealing with often grouchy customers, among a few other reasons I had for leaving. It wasn't usually stressful at least though.

I hope I find a career path that I enjoy a lot more someday. Since most of life is spent at work, it'd be nice to enjoy it more. I just wish I knew what it was that I would enjoy, because I really don't have any idea.

I like my job ok most days. I really enjoy the people I work with, to the point they're most of my social circle outside of work. Some days I hate it and want to quit and run off into the mountains and live on pine needles. Those are mostly the days where I'm just overly tired and the customers I'm dealing with are just horrible, soulless people. Most people are fun and interesting to talk to, so it balances out. I wish I had more time to do more dog things but I can't think of anything that pays this well that doesn't involve me being stuck behind a desk.

If I could have made an actual living as a trail guide, that's what I'd be doing.

My ideal job is controlled grazing rangeland work in the Rockies off horseback working for a private cattle farm and to work in a tack store part time...

Reality is the closest I could find to that offered here in MI. Natural Resource Management concentrating on ecosystem sustainability. I'm not sure yet where it will take me, but hopefully someday I can do some of my work off horseback.

Right now I'm 100% in dog business. Between the dog park and the boarding facility, I'm beginning to get burnt out and it's definitely not something I want to do long term.

I guess I'm not really in a position to answer because I only really work three or so days a week (other days I'm in university), but yeah, I love my job most days. I think three days a week is enough though, because I could definitely see myself getting burnt out if it was full-time. I love dogs but I would hate to be burnt out on them.

I really like to hope that I will have a career that I enjoy; it's certainly what I am for. I don't want to spend the rest of my life dragging myself out of bed to do a job that I don't like. I'm in school now and going in a direction that I think is perfect for me, so fingers crossed everything works out.