Feeling Unemployed with a Full Time Job

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Does anyone ever feel unemployed while working? I mentioned this to my sister once, and she said it was the stupidest thing she ever heard.

But I do feel unemployed. I am busy enough at work, but the stigma of feeling unemployed is always there. And I always feel lazy. I am sure feeling unemployed is an irrational thought, but I wonder if it manifests something deeper.

I worked two jobs for many years because the one full-time job was not enough money. Last year, the one employer retired. I feel unemployed for two reasons. One is that my full-time job only pays for my rent so it is not enough money. Two is that I am an operator, which feels more like being a babysitter to a phone and not a real job. I get by financially by "retiring" early and combining retirement money with my full time job money. Yes, I work full time and totally feel unemployed.

Hmm.. Lotuspup, there is probably more to this: it is possible you are feeling 'under-employed' i.e. maybe your job does not challenge you?

The point of feeling "employed" is to feel important. There aren't very many jobs that can do that now. Jobs, like having a college degree, having a girlfriend, and owning a cell phone, are more about social status than anything else. And social status is about being important.

I can definitely relate.

In many ways, I work more now in less time than I did at my previous job, but the work is so futile that I usually feel like I may as well not even be there doing it, save for the fact that I must for financial solvency's sake.

Personally, I'm trying, some times more successfully than others, to combat this feeling by pouring myself into something that I really and truly enjoy when I am not at work.

I'm trying similarly to make peace with the fact that feelings of inadequacy and failure are a hard fact of life, and I tell myself that the sooner I get used to it, the better equipped I will be to rise above it when the opportunity to do so arrives.

I can definitely say this is not the job I want. I am happy with my job for the money, and prefer any job to not working, even if I am financially secure. Ultimately, the job I want is not only engaging, but provides me with things I can't easily acquire in the non working world, like influence or intellectual stimulation.

I never voice this attitude in real life because it is looked down upon. But through the anonymity of the Internet, I can say that I am unhappy with the job I have.