Grrrrrr!! Work Rant !

[Duke 48]

Sounds like you are ready to take control of your life - at least as much as is possible. Next time you and hubby take the boat out take along a pin and paper. When thing are relaxed, work together to decide where you want to be by when and what it will require to get there. Writing down specific goals helps to keep you focused and provides a means of measuring your progress. If you do this, after a short while you will feel the since of accomplishment that comes with meeting your goals and the emotional strength you gain will help deal with the world around you. Good Luck.. Duke

[Cormorant]

BareFtGrl -- sounds like you have job skills that could be in demand elsewhere. Any chance you could do a similar job for someone else, a less crushing employer? That might give you a couple of years' relative sanity while you sock away a good cruising kitty.

As for the 25' boat -- if you need to sail away in that, it'll be fine. It may be smallish inside, but all around you will be an infinity of peace and beauty.

Good luck!

[Tingum]

I have not had a job that I really had to wear shoes to since 1978! Just do it!

[S/V Antares]

BareFtGrl, We have been cruising for 5 years on a 6 mo on 6 mo off basis. This allows us to get away from depressing winters but still maintain a house for now. We are casually looking for the next level but are in no hurry. Your skills should allow this. Dump the debt as soon a possible and try it Even a few months out will let you know if you want the cruising life. When you do take off keep up your professional status (Licences etc) so you can drop back in if needed.

I always say, " Before you jump off the bridge, rob the bank and see if it changes your life." (Not to taken litteraly!)

[Geoduck]

Originally Posted by S/V Antares

BareFtGrl, We have been cruising for 5 years on a 6 mo on 6 mo off basis. This allows us to get away from depressing winters but still maintain a house for now. We are casually looking for the next level but are in no hurry. Your skills should allow this. Dump the debt as soon a possible and try it Even a few months out will let you know if you want the cruising life. When you do take off keep up your professional status (Licences etc) so you can drop back in if needed.

I always say, " Before you jump off the bridge, rob the bank and see if it changes your life." (Not to taken litteraly!)

Good advice. Dont throw it all away - try it first.
Remember this - "You gotta serve somebody" -All you have to do is sell your labor to the highest bidder doing something YOU LIKE TO DO no matter what that is and have as much fun as you can doing it. Life is TOO SHORT to do anything else.
Maybe you could get a job at a VA hospital working in the pharmacy? I think that would be more rewarding than Wallmart.
Maybe you should see a doctor and get some anti-depressants - anything to get you through the day and not be so stressed out - stress will kill you.
so make a life style change but do it wisely.

[osirissail]

To take the "other side" from the obviously prevalent tone of the posts that the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" - don' t do it - don't quit.
- - If you can find a better job, fine. But unless you have your future retirement, medical needs, insurance, children's needs, etc., etc., settled and secure you could be cutting your future throats and condemning yourself to a life of poverty.
- - The funny thing about "work" - if it was enjoyable, they wouldn't have to pay you to do it. So in essence a job is a trade, your life essences for money.
- - But the controlling factor in today's horrible economic conditions, is the capitalistic market rule of supply and demand. They (the employers) have the supply of jobs and you have the demand for money to stay alive - eat, house, all that stuff. So they can impose working conditions that border on intolerable until enough people quit or refuse to take the job you are leaving. Dog eat dog world right now.
- - But from a purely personal interest to you is - do you have enough money, equity, investments, and protections, health, insurances, money for food and boat costs? For how long?
- - Living on a boat and cruising the oceans and seas is no longer free or without hassles. They are just different hassles from the ones you are encountering now. There are a lot of costs (money) involved in cruising and maintaining a boat. They can be minimized as laid out in the Cruising on $500/month thread. But they are still there.
- - The big concern young people (anybody under age 60) don't think about is the cost of getting sick or injured. Without medical insurance inside the USA you will be lucky to stay alive if you incur a major medical problem. Outside the USA there are both limits on the degree of care and the quality of care available to "non-citizens."
- - No doubt about it for a vast amount of workers the current economic climate is downright nasty, but the alternative can be worse.
- - Living on the boat can drastically reduce day to day costs and enable you to build equity in investments and funds for use later in life. So that is good. But sailing off into the sunset blissfully dreaming of a life in "paradise" can quickly turn into a life in "hell." Be careful, be frugal, be smart - don't do something that will return in the future to make you regret today's decisions.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by osirissail

To take the "other side" from the obviously prevalent tone of the posts that the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" - don' t do it - don't quit.

Yea, he's right.

But don't wait too long as your back may be bad and your knees so bad you can't tolerate being on them for the time it takes to change an impeller (with pads), or any number of other things that need to be done.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by BareFtGrl

(...)

How can I get to the freedom I long for?

(...)

There are many ways, like:
- you can understand that all yearning is your prison, no yearning is freedom,
- you can become a millionaire and substitute one yearning with other prisons,
- you can get into a good profession, downsize and live free,
- you can win the lottery, inherit, steal, etc..

I think dash one is best and three is a close second best.

b.

[boatman61]

I deliver boats... real crap job.....
Take this one... 6hr train journey to airport... 2.5hr flight... arrive and get taken to old farmhouse with beautiful hospitality... and location.. it was awefull....
Should I change my job....

[David_Old_Jersey]

Pay the debts down to zero (it's addictive not being in debt to someone else )......and save $5k into a rainy day fund........then see if you can drop your hours, ideally knocking a couple of days off the week - and use the time to go sailing .......or simply fiddling around onboard ......you have the ideal sized boat for singlehanding, if hubby not available due to dull stuff like work

On which note. sounds like hubby is now in a position to carry some of your load for a while

and then see where you both are in a year or 2 (planning further ahead is free - and time spent sailing on what you have will help save money later on the bigger cruising boat)......not entirely sure where you are on the pharmacy thing, but if it is something like being a qualified pharmacist (and you are already part way through the exams / training?) then I would get myself fully qualified - folk always need someone to make and sell them drugs

[Khagan1227]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Pay the debts down to zero (it's addictive not being in debt to someone else )......and save $5k into a rainy day fund........then see if you can drop your hours, ideally knocking a couple of days off the week - and use the time to go sailing .......or simply fiddling around onboard ......you have the ideal sized boat for singlehanding, if hubby not available due to dull stuff like work

On which note. sounds like hubby is now in a position to carry some of your load for a while

and then see where you both are in a year or 2 (planning further ahead is free - and time spent sailing on what you have will help save money later on the bigger cruising boat)......not entirely sure where you are on the pharmacy thing, but if it is something like being a qualified pharmacist (and you are already part way through the exams / training?) then I would get myself fully qualified - folk always need someone to make and sell them drugs

Good advice DOJ!

Always, always have a back up plan.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Khagan1227

Good advice DOJ!

Always, always have a back up plan.

Of course at 28/29 I upped sticks and went to Thailand and then RTW by Jumbo Jet..........and had a grrrrrrrrrreat time p#ssing my money away and started a 10 Odyssey...........But all that is history now, and none of anything is provable

If I had my time again I would........have gone 5 years earlier

[VirtualVagabond]

This thread's been great.
I now know exactly how I'm going to fund my cruising life...

I've got enough to buy some cheap, starving, scrawny beef cattle (must be beef to fit the tone of this thread...)

Then I'm going to park the whole damn herd in the vast green meadows on the other side of your fences....


But I do feel the pain.
I'm doing the splits at the moment and the joints are starting to creak.
We're halfway there I guess... house is sold, so that foot is free to float, but the business isn't, so that foot is firmly stuck in the mud. It's not even the kind of business I can torch and claim the insurance...

So, what's the going rate for beef at the moment? I need to know how much I just made...

[S/V Antares]

Yes Orrisail the capital system is bad ..except it is still better that all the rest! I think you are spot on about leaving in a responsible manner However I think BareFtGrl would benifit with a few months off. Life aboard is not always easy as you know. Perhaps she would feel better about her situation if she got away for more that a weekend and decompress. I had a great job but my wife made me go sailing. I am ok with that...LOL

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

not entirely sure where you are on the pharmacy thing, but if it is something like being a qualified pharmacist (and you are already part way through the exams / training?) then I would get myself fully qualified - folk always need someone to make and sell them drugs

Path to pharmacist is not same as path to pharmacy tech.

Kinda like scrub nurse in OR and surgeon.