To feel weird in never having a passion for any job I have ever done?

[Frokni]

Need to know if I am alone here or if other people feel this way:

Age 17-19 worked at Tesco
20-26 Nanny in London
26-present (31) teacher, first corporate training now secondary teacher at alternative school
Have supplemented income with marking, assessing, verifying etc in Education since aged 26.

I literally have never felt passion for any job! I work hard as it's in my nature and I want to be part of a team, but my god, my interest, is so low it's unreal. I taught through my mum's business for a while and was more engaged with it as it was a family thing but passion is never a word I would use.

Does anyone else feel this way? If so, why do you think? If you have always been passionate what do you do and how did you go about it? Are you following a dream with no money/capital. I want to feel really passionate about work as I have to work part-time for me and my family to get by.

(Married, DP works FT) with DD1 aged 3.5 and DD2 10 months) just saying that so you get an idea of family life. I would love to stay at home but it's not an option financially.

Any thoughts or moany rants about how boring work is?

Totally normal!

serbska exactly, most of us have no choice but to work so I think we all make the best of it, but realistically we’d jack it in if we had a lotto win!

I don't mind my job, but I am not passionate about it. I like it because I get intellectual stimulation from it, it pays very well, I like the people I work with and the location of my workplace, and it gives me a great work/life balance. But I have no passion for it.

That said, I don't know what else I would do instead, so I keep doing it! There is no other job that I want to do day to day.

Lots of people I know feel the same. We are all committed and hard working, but that isn't the same as passionate.

I have met people who were passionate about their jobs though. They were a headteacher, a music teacher, alternative therapy practitioners, gardener, writer, politician and a preschool owner.

I have zero passion for my job. Which is probably why I'm on mn now instead of doing it. I do it because I can, not because I like it. I don't hate it. Its just meh. Its also a reliable source of income, unlike my hobby, which isn't, but which I'd happily spend all day doing.

it's not weird at all. I had the best possible job (given my interests) but doing it 5 days a week was too much and I felt tired and drained every 3 months. Plus you get your share if idiots in any job, be it a boss or a person you manage.

There was some research quoted in the Guardian, saying that around 25% felt very engaged in their jobs (i.e. loved it), another 25% really, passionately hated it and the rest is just "meh, gotta be done" about it.

So no, this is a myth that there is job satisfaction for most, that it's somehow fulfilling, developing etc. For the majority it's a job, not a career, and a lot of stress and boredom thrown in for a good measure ...

I'd love to work in an animal rescue centre, but that doesn't pay the bills unfortunately. I have liked my jobs but don't love them and certainly don't have a passion for them. I don't think that's unusual. If you have a job you love, then you are very, very lucky.

I can understand why you'd want to live in Paris, but you say you'd like to teach English there. Why do you want to teach there and not here?

I had a series of office jobs in the 70s and 80s. All very girly. All very stultifyingly boring.

Ended up in a different area of the country in a house that needed a new kitchen.

Couldn’t get anyone to fit the thing.

So having done up a couple of places with partner I read a few diy books and took a week off work and fitted it my self.

Actually enjoyed it more than my office work.

Went back to work for a few more months then bought a small place to do up and gave up my job. I couldn’t have been any happier knowing I would not be going back into an office again.

I think sometimes if you are not happy then you need to find something that does make you happy. You could be unhappy doing a job for the next 40 years

That is pretty normal. If people loved doing these jobs so much they would be paying to do them not the other way around. This whole idea that people should be passionate about their job is just quite

I’ve never had any idea of a career goal, not even as a child. I still have no idea what I would do if I had free choice/money no object. I just do whatever job I can get that suits my circumstances at the time. I flit about and never settle in a job.

Exactly this ^^

I think most people work to live rather than live to work.

But I do come across a lot of people who take their jobs really seriously in situations where I really couldn't care less.

And people who work really hard when they don't need to, but I suppose if they are ambitious and want to do well it makes sense. As an example, I might suggest improvements to a process but if I get ignored/told no, I just shrug my shoulders and move on (I don't work in a medical field where improvements might save lives/improve outcomes). But my ex-boss was like a little terrier and she would keep on and on at it until it happened. I just couldn't be bothered. But that's why she is now doing so well and I am doing somewhat less well I guess! However, she lives to work.

When you think about it there is actually something slightly sad about people who love their jobs. Not in an actual sad way but bitter sweet I guess. Like people who get a lot of enjoyment out of watching football and talk about it all the time, spend lots ofoney going to matches etc. Its nice that they are happy but it just seems like they must miss out on a lot iyswim. So not actually sad but orrowgul in its own strange way. It's like if you handed someone a billion pounds and they continued going to work. On the one hand it's really nice that they have found somrthing that makes them happy but on the other hand it us sad that they aren't going off and doing something that will result in a noble prize. Obviously rare exceptions exist when people take on a passion that just happens to pay but I'm not sure that counts as a job job.

@HollowTalk I have taught English as a second other language in London and then am currently the English teacher at an alternative school in Northants. I just love Paris and I would be immersed in a different city etc.

My daughter's just trained in TESOL and loves it - doesn't like teaching the teenagers, though

I also think this is the same for most of us. I mean most jobs probably entail nothing that incites passion and irrespective of level, are pretty mundane.

My favourite job has been working in a rugby club bar. Wouldn’t cover a mortgage though. I’m a marketing manager at a university - interesting and sometimes satisfying but still mainly meh!

@HollowTalk it opens so many doors. It's where my teaching career started. Good luck to her!

Actually, I wish i’d pursued a career teaching English. I loved the subject at school/college.

This thread has caused me to think what I am actually passionate about 😬 ??!!

runningkeenster i’m with you there!

I was a teacher for many years and loved being with the students but hated the constant inspections and suspicion from senior management. I did an MA in Creative Writing while I was teaching and then took the chance of redundancy to write a book. Now work isn't like work - I'd do it for nothing.

"But I do come across a lot of people who take their jobs really seriously in situations where I really couldn't care less."
this! Happens so frequently. people getting riled up about work stuff, meanwhile i'm bumping along shrugging thinking 'it's only work'. probaly that's why i'm not making the big bucks. fuck the big bucks in that case!

I think that's normal op. Otherwise why are so many people playing the lottery?

Yep, normal here too. Worked in retail for ages (degree in theatre), came out of uni into an assistant manager role in the store I did a job for money at uni in. Pay was absolute crap for management level, sales pressure and all the unpaid hours also crap. Then into bank cashiering, even worse sales pressure!! Finally cracked into admin and no more sales, members of the public and working weekends

Although the salary is good and conditions are good also it's definitely not what I pictured doing. In dreamworld I'd be in event planning, I'd be in my element. However, it would definitely involve weekends, and members of the public again (shudder, retail and banking puts you off them for life!!). Plus I'd be on a much lower salary, and with bills and a small DD I can't take the hit.

I have never felt passion for any job I have had. It's just a way to earn money so I can pay my mortgage, have lots of holidays and adventures and do my hobbies.

I think we are mis-sold this notion that work should be fulfilling and people get depressed when it isn't. Converseley, I have very low expectations of my professional life, get through the week and don't really care.

I’ve never felt passion for any job. Just something I have to do to pay the mortgage. I’ve quit crappy office admin jobs and gone self-employed. Feel more motivated!

Whenever I was being interviewed for office jobs I was always asked why I wanted to work there. Ummmm why do you think? I need money and I don’t want to work weekends or with the public!