Is It Time to Quit? How to Escape a Job You Absolutely Hate

I think we've all been in jobs that we just don't resonate with—jobs that we can say we absolutely hate, and we don't want to be there. Then why do we have to get up every morning and go to this job where we are so undervalued, unappreciated, constantly told that we need to do this and do that, and yet nothing we do is ever seen, ever noticed, ever appreciated? We think a promotion is on the way, we think a pay raise is there, but we don't get it. It just never comes. It doesn't happen. It doesn't materialize. Our bosses talk, talk, talk.

How many of us have been in situations where we have worked in jobs that we absolutely loathe? I know I have. I've been in situations in jobs where I felt very taken advantage of, very disrespected. I personally have never ever liked taking instructions from people who I felt were so stupid with some of the things that they would ask me to do. Another thing that I personally didn't like was discrimination.

I had one particular boss who openly told me to discriminate against a certain group of people, and I hated it. I hated doing that kind of work.

I did not want to take instructions from other people, especially people who I felt were not even as educated as me. And let's not talk about promotions—promotions that I truly felt I deserved. I worked hard, I was honest, I put in all the effort, but then walks in someone who is completely deceitful on their resume, who just waltzes in and gets the promotion, gets the position that I worked hard for, I was promised. Have you ever been in that situation? I'm sure you have.

I've talked to so many people who feel so unappreciated in their jobs—they just want to leave, they just want to walk out of that job, they just want to be done with it. But let me change your mind on this situation, because let's be real, not many of us can walk out of that job, right? We have bills to pay, we have a life to live, we have a family to raise. We cannot just escape from the 9 to 5 and say, "I'm not doing this anymore, I'm throwing in the towel." We don't have that liberty.

So let's take a different route to finding happiness. Let's try to understand why we were put in this particular position, why we were put in this particular job, and what we have to do there. If you are new, hi and welcome. My name is Dr. Sashina, and I am an Ayurvedic doctor. I'm also a spiritual guide and counselor, apart from many other things, and this site is all about helping you find your true self, finding your happiness in whatever way possible through holistic health and wellness. So if that's your jam, I hope that you will join me and you'll stick around and listen to what I have to say, because what I'm about to tell you might be life-changing, might be life-altering, really. I know it was for me.

Story time: I worked in a restaurant. This was a nice restaurant. It was nothing out of the ordinary, it was not a challenging job at all, but to be honest with you, as a doctor working in a restaurant, I can tell you I was not happy. I was not happy—not in the least bit. I did not like having to do these filthy chores that I felt were somewhat lower than my education. Did I really study for so long to come here to have to wash dishes, to have to change out the food, to clean up people's messes constantly, to deal with rude customers? That was the worst for me—to deal with rude people, people talking down to me, people disrespecting me, people belittling me, and making me feel like, you know, I was beneath them because I was serving them food. People in suits and ties and all this elite attire standing in front of me. Little did they know that I was a doctor. But I had to do this job. This was my stepping stone to where I am right now.

I did not see it then. In fact, I resented it so much. I resented it, I hated it. I hated being there. Every day I walked into work, I was upset—truly, truly upset—until one day I had a conversation with my mother and she shared something with me that changed my whole perspective. This is something that is backed by the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu religious text in which Lord Krishna explains to Arjuna about the purpose of the job that he was given, the task that he was given.

So after this conversation with my mother, I came to the realization, the truth, the hard fact that this is what I had to do because this is God's plan for me. And I didn't see the bigger picture at that particular point of time. I did not see the light at the end of the tunnel. When was this going to end? When was I going to stop working all these menial jobs with these low pay grades, dealing with these rude customers and nasty people who look down upon me? When was I going to have that position that I truly felt I studied for, I earned, and that I truly desired? When was it going to happen?

Well, I went into work after having this conversation with my mother, and I changed my perspective on my job. I realized that, like Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, you have to do every bit of work that is given to you in honor of me. So when you deal with people, when you deal with customers, when you deal with clients, when you deal with bosses, don't look at them as just other human beings. See the god in them. See me in them, that's what Lord Krishna says. And that is what my mom told me.

When you look at your job, don't look at it as you having to go to work to serve your boss, to do the work that your boss is telling you to do, to take instructions from a supervisor, someone who you feel is so much less qualified than you, so much less educated than you. Don't look at it as you having to take instructions from them and serve them and do the work for them. Don't look at your customers and your clients who treat you badly as you having to deal directly with them. See God in them. See God in the work that you are doing. Know every day that when you go to work, that is where God wants you to be at this particular point of time, to serve him.

So every time I interacted with someone now, I didn't look at them resentfully. I didn't go to the job and go to my workplace unhappy to be there. In fact, I changed my whole perspective, and I looked at it as an opportunity to serve God. And every person that came to me, I was giving them food. That is the highest honor of serving God—to give a person a plate of food, no matter how they treated me. I was going to serve them as best as I could, because I was serving God. God was there with me in that job. God was the reason I was there. I had to learn several different things through working in that job, through working in many other jobs that paid me much less than being my own boss and working for myself. But the most invaluable things that I would say I learned were everything that helped me to be the businesswoman that I am now.

I had to be at the level of the worker in order to understand a worker. Now I can hire people and I can delegate tasks to them and treat them in a certain way, because I know what it feels like to be treated that way. I also looked up to my bosses at the time when I was taking instructions from them, and I wasn't very happy to do the things that they were asking me to do. I always felt like there was a better way, there was an easier way, there was a smarter way. But I took the lesson and I did what they wanted me to do, because now I'm my own boss, and I wouldn't want my subordinates to not listen to my instructions, even if they felt that they could do something better. I have my reasoning for why I do certain things, and I would want my workers to respect that.

And so, I had to be in a job where I had to be respectful of my bosses. That is something I had to learn. I am so grateful now for all the lessons that I learned through working in these jobs. I understood the importance of showing up on time, because if you don't show up on time at a job, you get written up. You get written up a certain number of times, you get fired from that job, and it's so important to be timely in your work. Right? It's so important to show up there on time, to get tasks done on time. Because now, when I don't have people show up on time or be tardy all the time, it irritates the crap out of me, and now I can understand, as a boss, why we were expected to be on time at work.

Because now I expect that from my workers. So it was really hard in the moment to work that kind of a job and work any other minimum-paid job when I felt like I deserved more. But I have to understand that God put me in that job, and God has put you in your job to learn something, to improve your life.

So the lesson of the Bhagavad Gita, chapter 18, Lord Krishna talks about renunciation, how to get freedom from this life, and he talks about doing any task that you have been entrusted to do, doing it without any kind of attachment to the results. If you do a job and you are attached to the results, you will get stressed out because you're constantly thinking, "When is my promotion coming? When am I going to get that raise? When is it going to happen?" All of that attachment to the outcome will cause you stress.

But Lord Krishna tells us to do work without attachment to the results, and it will bring peace. He says if you do this and you focus on what is right in front of you, the work that you have in front of you, and you put your all into that, that's the way to find peace and happiness in your job. I hope this will change your perspective on the job that you are in.

If you are feeling undervalued, unappreciated, if you feel stuck in your job, remember this. Whatever job you are in, that's the job that God has put you in right now, and there is something that you need to learn. There is something there that is a stepping stone to something greater. Stay grounded. Stay positive. Do not get attached to the results. Do your best, and you will see how the universe brings you everything you need.