If you love what you do what do you do and why?

[porte]

Just wondering

I'm in a traditional professional job well paid well respected blah blah blah

But it's very stressful full of corporate politics and I don't really feel fulfilled or if it's what I want to do forever

So ...if you are really happy what do you do and why does it make you happy?

i have two jobs one is just meh pays the bills the other is running an ebay page for a cat charity i love doing it, on a Monday i never know what the shops are going to send me to sell that week its like christmas every week opening the boxes, and on Sundays when the listings end its exiting seeing how much money i have raised each week for the cats

Psychologist

Love my job
Truly so lucky

Every day is beyond fascinating !!!

Self employed Relocation consultant ( with a contract with a large company)
I meet lots of interesting people from all over the world and often get to look round flash properties I can’t afford myself. I organise my own diary so pretty flexible and I usually get bought lunch !
The money is quite good, although I work around DS so can do more when he goes to Secondary and can earn more then.
The bureaucracy can be a pain , especially when the client is being relocated by an American parent company, plus I have to deal with letting agents ( apologies to any on here) and I have quite a few different companies involved in each assignment so I have to keep a lot of people happy and be extremely diplomatic
I love it though

I'm support staff in a day nursery. Love it.

I work with young people leaving care/in care.

The pay is terrible but I’d do it for nothing. It’s hard, soul destroying work sometimes but I’m passionate about it and I can’t explain how much I love it.

I have a fledgling business running team building (sorry!), communication and leadership courses with horses - they are amazing trainers as they read body language instantly and don't give a flying fuck about status, office politics or how much you weigh.

Sadly my botched thyroidectomy in November has set me back at least 6 months but I love, love, love what I do and can't wait to start again.

Marketing manager for a law firm.

Honestly? Bad days the money gets me through.

Good days? I get to throw creativity into an industry which doesn’t have naturally creative people in it.

That said I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t bloody love the people I work with. For me - and as someone who has done a few firms - that’s the thing that makes the difference.

Teaching English as a foreign language. Done for 23 years so far. Gave me the opportunity to live and work abroad for 5 years in my 20s and early 30s on 3 different continents.

Now working in ESOL and run a department. LOVE it. Stressful, admin heavy, constant prep, shite money but the students (and a great, long standing team) are what keeps me in this job.

No two days are the same.

Not sure I have the energy to do it until I am 67 though.

Self employed dress designer and seamstress. It's not the highest paid job in the world, granted, but I love it. I can make a living, and that's enough for me. I am in total control of my workload, prices and client list, and can take a day off at random to spend with a friend if I want to. Downside is no paid holidays, no sick pay, no pension pot. Upside is my mental health is intact (I left an industry job after 15 years with every nerve frayed and shredded), I love my clients (mostly), I absolutely love the work and I'm happy as a clam.

I work with teenagers in an AP setting, teaching them English.

I can’t explain how much I love it. Every day is different. The kids are heroes, in my opinion, and watching them puff up with pride when they achieve is worth more than any salary.

To echo a pp, I’d do it for nothing.

I also work as a private English tutor, and I love that too!

Professional job well paid well respected blah blah blah and full of corporate politics, actually. Technically: a senior executive at a multinational.

It suits my natural talents and my personality, though. I'm extremely good at it. And I get to always work just far enough out of my comfort zone to keep me engaged.

Most of all, I've had the privilege of working for some truly amazing people and of having some equally stellar ones work for me. I can truthfully say that two of my bosses and a handful of people reporting to me are among my favourite people from any walk of life.

I suspect it's not really so much what you do but a) if it suits you and b) if the environment does.

SLT in a complex needs boarding school.

Love it.

This week a boy who's been fed quavers for snack everyday for 5 years asked for toast using a picture symbol system... I helped to give him a teeny bit of autonomy and that's the start. It seems so small but it was a huge step.

Traditional profession in creative industry. I love working with creative people.

NC for this. I used to work in sales. I was very very good at it and all the personality tests I had (because that's what sales companies do, give you frikkin personality tests) said as much. But, my god, it was soul destroying. When I had my eldest dc I was so sick from the drama and backstabbing I decided (with DH's financial support) to return to writing and journalism and I've never looked back. The whole career path, even when I was on top, felt like a constant gaslighting.

I still have career stresses but I love my job and I've managed to get to a point where I have a role people feel envious of and I'm proud to tell people about.

Sure, it could pay better and the logistics with kids CAN be a nightmare but when I get emails from people saying how much they love my writing and they've taken recommendations, it makes it so worthwhile.

Self employed/freelance in creative industry for the past 12 years, challenging at times but never happier. Finances often not great but it's interestig and I feel in control of my workload and valued. I love Mondays now!

I have a day job, but I also tutor English in the evening, which I adore. On of my best moments was when a lad who had dropped out of school (bullying, dyslexia, adhd) after failing his English the first time and went back for a second go. He got a D and an E. He phoned to tell me his results and that he had got into college to do an animal care course. I cried.

I love both things that I do, but not both at once!

I'm a SAHM to my toddler DD five mornings and one afternoon per week, and it's lovely. And I'm an academic researching medieval sexuality and gender (and trying, and succeeding, to look as if I do it full time). I finished writing my book last month, and in the autumn I'm starting a new project with a research grant that means I'll be able to afford childcare for DD.

I love being a SAHM, against all expectations, because toddlers are actually fascinating and I so enjoy all of her tiny discoveries and victories. I love seeing her learning so much and I feel lucky to be there for that.

I love being an academic because I enjoy teaching (for exactly the same reasons as being a SAHM, plus you get to make young people feel confident), and because I really, really, really love researching and getting to spend days patiently figuring out what happened in the past and why it matters. Right now I am researching how people thought about miscarriage in the past. It sounds depressing and it could be, but it's also making me think how we can gain some strength from the past, and what we can learn about how to support women in the future. I find that really exciting and valuable, so I hugely enjoy this bit of my job.

OTOH, the hours are crap, I'm constantly juggling, I'm working 12-14 hours in the week and 8-10 each weekend day, and I am shattered.

I'm a civil servant in a large Gov Department. I absolutely love my job. I have quite a bit of influence over really important policies. Wouldn't ever want to do anything else.

Piano teacher. Returned to the arts after having children, as I discovered it was nigh on impossible holding down my demanding FT job with 3 young children.

I am self-employed so have complete control over my schedule, my hours etc. It works round my family, so I can take on as much work as I can cope with without it affecting our lives negatively.

Love the creativity, the variety, the human interaction, the personal growth, mine and my students’. Music is beautiful.

BUT it will not pay the bills. OK as a supplementary income, but it is very hard to make a living from it. I don’t even think of it as a ‘job’. It is a vocation. Lion’s share of it is emotional labour/co-creating art/put my heart in it activity, as well as professional stuff too. Vocation which I happen to be paid for. But if I had to support myself independently, sadly I would have to leave arts and do something more lucrative and dependable.

TA in a special school.
The pay is dire .. unbelievably dire (13k) for a job where on an given day I will be hit, bitten kicked, pooed on.. give medication, manage horrible seizures...

But... the children are amazing... fascinating personalities, and building a relationship with every child I work with, makes it worth it. Seeing them develop skill, even tiny tiny developments that the rest of us take for granted... is just great.

Wish it paid better though and having done it for 15 years there is NO way I can go to 67!

Auctioneer, it’s great fun. Every day is different, I get to handle the most amazing, beautiful and rare things (and even keep them on my desk for a little while!) and I have lovely and knowledgable colleagues and clients I can learn from. Everybody leaves work on time but deadlines are always met. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.

I make art, from my beachcombing.
I get to combine going to the beach, with making, and selling, and meeting new people.
I get to work my own hours, listen to my music , and be alone for the most part. I get to be around people when it's time to sell. It's a good balance.
DH is hugely supportive, and pitches in when I have shows and stuff.
I love creating, seeing something go from being trash on a beach to something beautiful. I love how it makes others happy too, when they get to enjoy it.

I changed careers in my early 30s and studied for a TEFL qualification because I wanted to work in different countries teaching English. Though the pay wasn’t great and the hours couldn’t always be described as sociable it was rewarding and a lot of fun with (mostly) lovely colleagues and students. Returning to the UK, the teaching experience helped me to move into educational publishing. After starting a family I decided to go freelance and work from home writing educational materials, editing and providing online training. There’s regular contact with teams while working on projects so it doesn’t get too islolated though it probably helps that I enjoy my own company. It’s interesting, varied and flexible and I love the freedom and autonomy as well as the feeling that I’m regularly adding to my skill set. Thankfully, the money is much better than I ever expected it to be - though negotiating fees remains my least favourite part of the job.

Another psychologist here (educational)

I love my job and have a huge respect for ( most!) others in my profession. I used to find working in a Local Authority hard, with austerity and endless restructuring really affecting our work. I now manage my own small practice which is great. I love the autonomy to do the work I want, in the way I want and have the privilege of working with fantastic children, families and schools.

I'd recommend educational psychology as a profession to anyone interested in applied science, supporting others and having flexible work options.

Financial counsel to wealthy families. A blend of law, financial, accounting, politics. Being on hand to critically appraise transactions, decisions, manage reputations, while also expected to work at the opposite end on forward, creative, directions. It’s varied. Well paid. The families are lovely to work with. I get a lot of recognition and feel as if I have achieved many things.