Dear person,

I believe that life is too short to hate your job when you have the luxury of pursuing other reasonable employment options. 

Story time to answer your question: I got a well-paying office job after graduating from my undergrad. I hated every moment and stuck it out for one year, the length of my contract. I declined an extension despite the fact that I didn't get into a graduate program and would have to wait at least another year to start. After quitting my job, I got three new jobs. I was a merchandiser at a Home Depot garden center, a babysitter/nanny for a family who had two children on the autism spectrum, and did odd jobs for a small business. I made a bit less money but I enjoyed my life a heck of a lot more. I thought it was well worth taking a pay cut to be active, with plants, with kids, and have flexibility.

I found that listening to podcasts and making friends with my coworkers (some of whom, fortunately, were extremely cool) made the terrible office job more bearable. But the boredom and the bureaucracy were still very miserable for me. I don't think anything could have made that job a pleasant or even neutral experience. My personality was fundamentally a bad match for the culture of my company (baby boomer) and the tasks I had to do (clerical). I often felt like this husky on the inside. 

Thankfully, I am now in grad school. I don't make much money and it's really hard because I have so much to do. However, it's also enjoyable and at the end I will have the qualifications I need to have a fun, challenging, meaningful, and rewarding career. I'm really glad I took the risks that I did instead of staying at the company offering financial security.

Obviously, everyone's situation is different. I was in a position where I did not have dependents, which obviously would have impacted my decision because I would have needed more money. Also, I lived in a place that paid reasonable wages (i.e., not Utah). I'm not sure what your situation is. However, I hope you find a way to be happy with whatever you choose.

-Sheebs

Dear Aziraphale,

Not sure I can give super good advice on this, but boy can I commiserate! 

Basically at the beginning of every semester ever, I'm inordinately optimistic about all the things and commitments I'll be able to keep, "Work two jobs, make research breakthroughs, join a team to build a deep learning emoji language translator, keep on top of job applications/interviews, graduate school tests/applications, all while crushing my course load of 11 graduate credits plus a few normal credits? Sounds totally reasonable!" (In case you were wondering, this was me at the beginning of this past semester.) However, as the semester goes on, and I get more and more crushed by my load, things slip. And honestly, I really hate that feeling of not doing something well when doing well was what I wanted (who doesn't?).  Yet that feeling is almost always inevitable considering what I consistently set myself up to do. The only way to avoid it is to consciously drop things before I'm wracked with guilt/regret.

I suppose the point I'm attempting to make is that even if you over-commit yourself at the beginning of a semester, you can always chooses to drop things later if you're getting too overwhelmed. Like, you can duck out of clubs, drop classes, or simply move certain items to the bottom of your priority list, and not worry if you don't get to them in a given week.

Anyways, this is a real problem, and one I wish I could give you a better answer for. But know at least that you have my heart felt empathy.

~Anathema

Dear Aziraphale,

If it were from the '70s, I'd say lots of late nights and drugs.

~Anathema

Dear you,

Considering I carry a taser, I figured I should also really find the answer for this. For tasers, according to this site (provided by Quixotic Kid), Utah has no restrictions. So, tasers are free game to carry around for self defense. As far as knives are concerned, this site is super helpful (again, link provided by Quixotic Kid). Essentially, knives are generally fine to carry, as long as you aren't a certain list, and the knife you're carrying isn't too scary.

~Anathema