I often think it would be better to live back in the pioneer days. My mom pointed out the other day that people back then worked from sun up to sun down, and it was a hard life. But think about it.
Hahaha
Farmers, for instance largely (with exceptions, of course) worked for themselves. Sure, we can get a 40 hour a work week, and the rest is free time. But that is 40 hours of YOUR LIFE every week that you are working for someone else, doing their menial tasks, and missing out on seeing your family. If you were back in the old days, you had to spend all day washing clothes, growing and preparing food, and making your own clothes, soap, etc. But it was FOR YOU! If you slacked off, then you had nothing to eat. Your family worked at your side next to you.
I used to have a monotonous job that I knew exactly what to expect everyday. That job bored me to tears, and I hated it.
Now I have a job that challenges me. Everyday is something new. Now I crave the familiarity of boring.
I have issues with having a job just for a paycheck. I feel like I should enjoy it, and be happy to go and spend my time there. This is where my anxiety comes from. What if I am wasting precious hours of my life doing THE WRONG THINGS? I don’t have a problem with being a responsible adult. I have problems with the precious moments of my limited life slipping away. That is why getting up every morning currently give me life-altering anxiety.
When I was in school, I once thought if I sat for long enough and thought hard enough, that I could figure out how the universe was created. I tried it one day.
Nothing.
But this illustrates my point. WHY can’t I just accept the Big Bang theory or Creation or Aliens grew us in their laboratory? Why do I feel like I have to do everything myself? It was the same way when I started my quilt. I didn’t want to read any books about it or ask anyone. I just wanted to invent my own way.
I am a person who felt guilty leaving my dog at home by herself for 4 hours daily. My husband and I worked different shifts for years, and one consideration for that for me was always that the dogs did not have to hold their pee for 8 or 9 hours. Now, our one remaining dog is now along for 9 hours in a day. But we avoided it for as along as possible.
Other people seem to be able to just work 40 hours (or more) and drop their kids off at daycare with no problem. Some people do this from the time that their children are born. I was lucky enough to have three years at home with my rug rat.
What is wrong with me? Why do I have to question every tiny aspect of my life to try and figure out if it is right or wrong until everything just seems wrong? Why can’t I just chill and be happy?
And the thing is, when my kid and I were at home, he spent large quantities of time watching television and trying my patience until I yelled at him. Maybe he is better off learning educational fundamentals and surrounded by adults who have to be more patient with him, because it is against the law not to?
I can’t be the only one bothered by all of this. My asbestos friend makes an annual list of why she home-schools. Near the top (not that the reasons are ranked) is always “we would miss our girl if she was gone to school for 8 hours everyday.” She works part-time, so somehow her life magically balances out with lots of family time, even with all the volunteering she does. Her family gets along very well on little income.
My household does not. We bought our modest house at the height of the real estate market. We both recently bought new cars, now incurring car loans. We didn’t do this lightly. We had kept the old vehicles for 14 years and 10 years. But now we are trapped in this work cycle. It is not so bad for my husband. He worked 4-10hr days. Therefore, he gets a 3 day weekend every week.
Sometimes it hits me that my dog is gone.
My car is gone.
My best friend’s dad is gone.
All in the last month.
Soon I will be gone as well.
I have to hurry up and get my eight potential books published before it is too late…
(Maybe I should start with ONE book first.)
I'm not stalking you. 
I too wish to travel back in time to simpler living. And I totally get everything else about this post. Although I am not currently leaving my home for a job, I do have a job at home that has taken a lot of time away from my kids and husband, and has therefore taken a lot of my happiness away with it. Through many twists and turns over the past couple if years, we are finding that my job will be changing again soon, and even though I haven’t been very happy with the one I’ve taken on, I’m still anxious about what the future will hold for our family. (Enough that I’m contemplating seeing a Dr and asking to be medicated for the short term future. That’s a big deal for me since I typically don’t like to even take a Tylenol.)
I guess the gist of my comment is meant to show you that you’re not alone. I over think everything and make myself sick with worry, and of course a lot of what I worry about, isn’t really a huge deal in the grand scheme of things.
If you ever find out how to just let go and be happy and carefree, let me in on your secret!
Thank you so much for stopping by to share. I have resisted seeing a doctor or asking to be medicated for years. I have a couple friends who went that route, and it helped them, but now they are trying to get off the drugs, which is not an easy thing either.
This has pushed me to actually make an appointment to talk about my anxiety to someone, even though they are not a medical professional.
I never thought that I could be MORE stressed with my household having 2 full-time jobs with benefits than I ever was with double-unemployment and a child that needed major surgery.
I am sooo searching for a way to live as carefree as everyone else seems to be. But maybe it is just not that easy. MAYBE EVERYONE IS FAKING IT!
And I’m sorry to hear about your changing circumstances.
The idea of everyone possibly faking it, makes sense! A lot of people think our life is mostly carefree and hunky-dory. It certainly does look different from the outside, than it does on the inside.