To ask if you would rather be bored or stressed?

[henpeckedinchief]

Thinking about jobs following on from the one where people are discussing the hardest thing about their job and I'm curious - would you rather be bored at work, or stressed?

I definitely fall into the latter camp. I never clock watch in my job and I can't really remember ever feeling bored (except in some very specific situations like some training sessions, perhaps). I have a lot of variety and plenty to keep me occupied, and I tend to be shocked at how late in the day it is rather than how slowly time is passing.

BUT. Stress levels are high. There's always an urgent deadline or a quick decision needing made, and the pressure is very intense. I find it almost impossible to switch off when I'm not in work, and check my emails regularly throughout the evenings, weekends and holidays. I've also had to cancel annual leave and actual holidays with near to no notice, and have missed events because of something that has come up which has to be dealt with.

I sometimes wonder if I would be happier in a job which I found boring but which didn't require me to be so invested. It's easy to think how simple and stress free my life would be if I could leave my job and not think about it until I walked back through the door! But it's probably the grass just looking greener. I had jobs which bored me when I was a teenager and I don't think I felt happy about it then...

What would you choose / did you choose? And do you think it was the right decision for you?

And if you have a job where you are neither bored nor stressed please let me know what it is so I can consider a career change

Bored.

Am currently very stressed and also bored. Stress is a killer, boredom isn't.

Much rather be stressed. I'm a teacher and the last few weeks of wind down have been so dull! I have preparation to do for next year but it's so difficult to motivate myself. I lost a number of exam classes so have a mostly empty timetable and I'm running on empty.

I much prefer the beginning of the year when everything is mad and I'm running around juggling three or four tasks at once!

When I was younger I would prefer stressed but now I am biding my time I prefer bored

If you can turn off the stress when you leave work then that. I did leave a job recently because the stress started following me home and it was making me ill so I left for a less stressful/boring job but once I leave the office I forget about work until the next day so much easier especially now I have a baby and other things to stress me out.

Consistent stress can damage the body eventually. Boredom does not.

Cannot stand being bored BUT stressful events need to be managed. I get a deadline for everything and ensure I plan my time to make sure I don't end up doing things at the last minute. I always leave extra time to complete tasks. Rarely do things come up that I am not planning for/expecting, but because I manage everything else I always have spare time to tackle these.

Stress but for the hours I work only. I like being busy. My job is stressful and incredibly physically demanding, but I don't have to think about it from the moment I leave until I return.

I love being busy and would hate to be board but stress levels are high at the moment and it's making me wonder if it's time for a change.

I seem to have as much stress as my manager but she gets paid considerably more than me.

bored

I'm ok with stress, but boredom very quickly puts me into a proper existential crisis, it literally becomes depression within hours.

Boredom can be stressful. Especially if you don't have the opportunity to change things.
The worst kind of job is where you have too little to do, but have to look busy.

Bored, without a doubt. I had the job from hell a few years ago and am still missing a couple of hours when I have no recollection of how I got to where I ended up.

Seriously unnerving.

If I’m bored I redecorate my house in my head or plan cycling holidays.

My job is stressful (not as stressful as yours) for about 8 months of the year and boring for the rest. That’s perfect IMO! The boring period gives me a chance to recover.

In my previous job, there were also stress peaks and boredom troughs (but much shorter and less predictable ones). I think that suits me better than a job which is always boring or always stressful.

Stressed definitely. It gives me energy. I've just finished a full time course, so was doing three days at work, three days at college and Sundays taken up doing stuff with the kids and catching up on housework. I've not had a second's peace seven days a week in the last two years. Now I've finished for the summer and having three full days off a week I honestly don't know what to do with myself and I'm so bored. I've run out of housework, the dog thinks it's Christmas he's been walked so much and I feel constant nagging guilt that I should be doing something but there's nothing to do! I've just been flapping round the house and watching Netflix. Can't wait to go to uni in September!

I'd rather be stressed. As a PP said, gives me energy. I did financial services recruitment in London with the 2009 crash and everything came to a halt so there were 3 months of actively doing nothing at work - we didn't even have to try and look busy! It was the worst time ever being that bored.

Bored. I’ve done the stressed job, and I don’t want random panic attacks at work or at home when alone with the kids again. Haven’t had heart palpitations to the point of my heart aching and inability to breathe for years now. Fuck that. I have a very boring evening job now, but my colleagues are funny, I go in, do my part and come home. Don’t think about deadlines or other crap. Life’s good. Oh and I get paid more.

Maybe stressed is the wrong word. I love being busy. I find my job occupies a lot of mental and physical energy, but most of the time it doesn't make me stressed in an out of control, panicked way - I can imagine that being terrible for one's health long term.

I would rather be stressed than bored, it makes the day go much more quickly and in my current job I can easily switch off when I walk out the door (the company is big on work/life balance). That said I'm only bored when there isn't enough to do. Simple repetitive tasks with music I find very soothing so I try to arrange my time to evenly spread tasks like that around stressful ones so the stress never overflows.

Why be either.

Bored. Currently in a stressful job and I hate it. It used to be boring but now we have too much work, lack of management and everything gets blamed on us lower down people while the big bosses have it easy and continue to get bonuses and pay rises while we do their work.

Hence why I'm looking for another job.

Agree with Etino- boredom always leads to an existential crisis for me. I commented on the previous post that I am often bored at work, and I do struggle with it.

But I still choose boredom- stress can do terrible things to people.

Interesting responses, thank you all!

I think I probably am better suited to stress than boredom. It's motivating to me, and keeps me occupied, and there is some satisfaction in conquering the source of stress (until it is replaced by another one...). It will be interesting to see if I still feel the same in a few years, or once I have kids!