I used to hate my job. Actually, I had a couple of jobs that I hated. I had started to wonder if it was me, or just having any job. However, I had a couple of

I used to hate my job. Actually, I had a couple of jobs that I hated. I had started to wonder if it was me, or just having any job. However, I had a couple of jobs that I liked, early on. These were days when I didn't have to support myself (still living with my parents, so I saved almost all my pay). The jobs paid extremely poorly, and I wasn't doing them full time. But I liked them. The things that I liked about those jobs were (1) I didn't have to work all day long so I had plenty of free time for other stuff. (2) I didn't have much responsibility. No reporting to people about what I did. I just did the work. It was obvious I'd done my job, and my bosses were clearly satisfied and appreciative. (3) They were not desk jobs. In one, I was working outdoors. In another, I was moving around a lot indoors. (4) Most importantly: I felt hopeful about my future. These were not dead end jobs I'd have for the rest of my life. I was making more money than I needed, and the future was open and filled with potential. When I look back at the jobs that I hated, I see a few things. (1) No hope for the future. I felt stuck. (2) I didn't feel appreciated. Unfortunately, most of the time, money was a proxy for appreciation. I felt underpaid for what I was doing and hence not appreciated. (3) The working environment involved a toxic person in both cases; someone who was overtly or covertly hostile. (4) In one job, we had an open office plan. People would chat incessantly within earshot, and it drove me crazy. (5) In one job, I was cold all the time, even wearing a sweater in the office. I think it's only in hindsight that I can pinpoint the specific reasons that I hated those jobs. I wish I had some tips to make it easier to deal with. Based on my experience, I'd say identify the problems, and then hunt for a job that doesn't have those problems. I have a friend who took a couple of different jobs, and hated them all. He just decided that all jobs suck, and stuck with the last one for a long time. That worked out for him, in one way, since he has a nice salary and retirement package. So that can work, depending on what you want. However, I feel like life is too short to be miserable when you have a choice not to be, and it's worth hunting around for better. All jobs have some suck factor, I guess. But I know from experience that jobs don't have to involve lots of suffering (at least, for me this is true). Also, there's nothing against job hopping in the US. Seems you'll wind up with a higher salary if you time your job hops correctly (probably better not to do it in a recession). I wish I'd done that more.