My DW has been on medical leave from her job since May 9th. She got approved to go back to work on Friday and will likely start back up on the 7th.

Her reason for medical leave was "short term memory problems" but I always knew it really was she hates her job and depression has taken over her life.

No college education, mild to moderate Learning Disability. She wants to stay home with me and not work. That can't happen as we can't live off of nothing.

So, besides prayers I am asking is this:

Q: What do you do for a living? do you A) Love it B) like it C) hate it

She is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. sort of her mid-life crisis at 38. thanks

Hi Earl,
What were the circumstances on why she went on medical leave. Was it requested by her employer or her?

As far as my job, sometimes I hate it, most of the time I like it. Sometimes it's very very hard to get up and go to work and deal with all the 'mess' that I have to deal with daily when my DH works out of the house and has a much less stressful job. Sometimes I'm so tired going to work 5 days a week too that it is a struggle. I've dealt with depression, in fact I'm on anti-depressants now. They seem to make a huge difference. I keep doing it because I have two teenage kids who mean the world to me and I want to be able to provide them with a college education and some experiences that I wasn't fortunate enough to have. I did get a college degree, but I got it totally on my own, working 40+ hours while in college with not a dime of help from my parents. I would like for things to be a little easier for them than that time was for me and hopefully it will help them acheive thier potential. I feel like with a little support I could have accomplished more, but hey, I have a good life now and I'm happy. One day I may get where I have to give it up, but as of now, I'm hanging on. But I'm stubborn.


Enough about me, I hope you and your DW can come to some conclusion that works for her and your financial situation.

Best wishes.

I hope your DW can come to some mutually acceptable decision that works for both her and her employer.

Maybe they can offer her flex time where she can work the same amount of hours over fewer days so she has more full days at home.

If she hates her job is looking for another job an option?

What's the reason she hates her job? Is it the people she works with or is the job just not fulfilling to her? If she is clinically depressed she can apply for SSDI but that usually takes a while to be approved and then paid out.

I worked for 15 years for my employer and just in the past several months had to stop working.....I miss the people and the social interaction but not the stress and long hours. I did enjoy what I did (most days). Plus, the severe drop in pay really pinches! Having to think twice about buying things is hard to get used to.

I'll keep you two in my prayers and I hope she can easily come to a decision about what she wants and needs to do.

don't work (outside the house) now, but at all my jobs, there were things I liked, things I hated.

Never minded the actual work, but hated some things about the work environment. That goes with the territory, I guess.

There were bad hours (I did swing shift, had flex shedules, never knew my hours till the day before at times ) either too many hours or not enough to put gas in the car.

worked with thieves and convicts, no kiddin.

I could go on but I'll stop there. Thing is, I had to put food on the plates.

Your wife should write a list of pros and cons about this job - why did she take it to begin with?

What other jobs are available, and why might they be better or worse?

Hi Earl! I am sorry that your DW is not happy with her job and having trouble. I think most people are not happy in their jobs and it is all too sad. We spend more waking hours a day at our jobs than at home.

Has she looked in to State Vocational Rehabilitation? She may qualify for it and apparently it is an awesome program - highly recommended by many I know in the rehab field as well as some physicians. They have you do all sorts of tests - interest inventory, vocational evaluation, etc. to see what types of positions would best suit you. They will pay for her retraining and work with Disabled Student Services at the retraining facility that she chooses to go to.

I wish her the best and let us know how she is doing.

Seems most everyone has a love/hate relationship with their job. I really like mine, but it occasionally becomes really difficult to do it. What kind of work does your wife do? Is it something she could do from home? I know many who telecommute, and it works out quite well..
I hope she finds an answer to this that works for her. If you're spending most of your waking life at work, you need to get some satifaction out of it, or what's the point?
Best of luck!