Is that high-paying job you hate really worth it?
Part One: The role work plays in our lives and how to choose a job you love.
As kids, we tend to dream big.
You know how it goes. Some adult asks the much-anticipated question:
“So, kid, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
You respond with confidence. “An astronaut!”
Or maybe, “A brain surgeon!”
You wait for the adult’s impressed expression.
If you’re young enough, perhaps you even shout, “A fairy princess!”
Good luck with that one, kid, your interrogator thinks, masking their true thoughts behind the forced “your-kid-is-so-cute” smile they shoot in the direction of your doting parents.
When we reach adulthood, it becomes clear that our childhood dream jobs aren’t always attainable. Perhaps your dream was to play in the NBA, but you stopped growing once you reached 5’6”. Maybe you wanted to be an astrophysicist, but you couldn’t even pass pre-calculus.
The point is, in the real world, there are limits to what we’re able to do. This can be a hard truth for us to swallow, especially for those of us who grew up with parents who told us we could do anything.
You remember: “Shoot for the stars, kid! The world is your oyster.”
The sentiment was good, but real life hits sooner or later. And when it does, you’re suddenly stuck figuring out what you can actually do.
And if you don’t know what that is, where do you end up?
Perhaps in college, where you’re labeled “Undecided” by the admissions office for your first couple years. When junior year rolls around, you’re finally forced to choose a major so you can graduate on time. But you’re still unsure, so you pick business or communications or marketing - something like that.
Or, after high school, maybe you take a low-wage job instead while you’re “figuring things out.”
“It’s just a gap year, Mom!” You exclaim at your wise old age of eighteen, your scrawny arms folded in defiance.
They just don’t get it! You think of your antiquated parents, stomping up the stairs of your childhood home and flopping on the comfy bed they bought for you two years before.
They just don’t get it. College isn’t for everyone anymore!
You’re probably right. But you’re also not really going anywhere without a degree, since you are still stuck with no plan: and no way of figuring one out.
Whether you take the college, trade school, or straight-to-work route (or some mixture thereof), you eventually reach a point where you realize that, since work encompasses so much of your time, you really don’t want to be stuck doing something you hate for the next thirty to fifty years.
It all comes full circle: You really do want to do something you’re “passionate about.”
But this is real life! How can you do something you’re passionate about and still make enough money to survive?!
This was my story. This was the story of many of my closest friends. This is the story of countless high school graduates in 2025.
By the end of college, I planned on becoming a lawyer. I worked at a law firm and took LSAT practice exams on the side. The legal field seemed like the perfect fit for me - heavy on the reading, writing, and reasoning, very logic-based, and, if I played my cards right, high-paying.
Here’s the thing: Even today, I don’t think I’d hate being a lawyer. There are plenty of practice areas that interest me. Plus, the legal route would bring me a good job and a good salary.
But it’s not where my passion lies.
I’m not here to tell you to “throw caution to the wind” and dive into a career that you won’t be able to support yourself with. As nice and comforting as that sounds, I’d be doing you a disservice. You do have to eat. You have bills to pay. I get it.
So, when I made the switch to full-time writing, what on earth was I thinking?!
I took into account what my life looked like, what I wanted my life to look like, and how I could reasonably get from point A to point B.
Set your priorities 🎯
When I took the leap, I considered my priorities. Here’s a list of the priorities I took into account:
I wasn’t passionate about my current job. I was frequently bored at work. I performed repetitive tasks in a windowless space all day, which was leading to burnout and a hint of depression. I wanted a career I cared more about.
I needed to make at least 50k per year to maintain the standard of living I wanted, including bill and food payments, extra spending, and savings.
My biggest goal in life was to get married and be a mother. I wanted a job that I’d still love if that didn’t work out for me, but would also give me the flexibility to take on those roles.
I really hoped to work from home or have a hybrid job. 45 hours sitting in an office each week wasn’t great for my mental health - I felt like I was wasting away with each passing hour.
I wanted a job that would allow me to advance financially by working hard. I didn’t want to be stuck in one place for the next thirty years.
(P.S. This list-making process was incredibly helpful in deciding how to move forward with my career. I highly recommend trying it out to recognize your own priorities!)
I also had to take a realistic audit of my credentials. What could I actually do for work? I knew I wasn’t about to get hired as a Physics professor or heart surgeon.
I had an Honors degree from Baylor. I had a year of law firm work under my belt, as well as a couple internships and short-term jobs I took on during my college years. I could read and write fluently in Spanish. I had experience traveling outside of the United States.
And, of course, I loved to write.
Ultimately, the leap was a calculated risk. I spent months praying about it first. I also spent much of my time off work building the groundwork for a freelance ghostwriting business. I studied what successful freelancers did, started a Substack newsletter, built a website, and worked on honing my craft. I ensured I had adequate savings to support me for at least a year should I make zero dollars during my first day-jobless year.
All in all, making a leap can be a really good thing - you just have to be smart about it.
So, what are your priorities? Realistically, what can you do for work that will satisfy as many of those priorities as possible?
What about that high-paying job you hate? 💼
The question of the hour, which this post is titled after, is: Should you take (or keep working) a high-paying job that you hate? Is it really worth it?
Naturally, we all want to scream, “No! Of course you shouldn’t work a job you hate!”
Well, I’d argue you shouldn’t work a job you hate for the next thirty to fifty years. But if you can stick it out for a shorter period of time, it may be worth it. Perhaps you need the savings to get a post-grad degree or to launch your own business. Maybe you’ll have the freedom to pursue a riskier career path if you know you have savings in the bank.
You have to identify your needs and goals before deciding whether to take/continue on in a high-paying job that isn’t your favorite.
I didn’t like my job at the law firm within the first couple months there, but I pressed on for a full year. The experience was good for me, and the reliable, consistent income allowed me to save up before launching into writing full-time.
It was a smart choice that, though difficult at times, ultimately paid off.
For me, listing out my needs and tangible skills, experience, and interests allowed me to narrow down my options and craft a game plan for how to move forward in my career.
Stay tuned 🎙️
On Monday, we’ll discuss the different ways we relate to our work and how you can set and stick to healthy work boundaries.
Thanks for reading today’s post! I’d really appreciate it if you’d share my article using the link below:
Always happy to like and restack an article for a fellow Texan! Plus this is really well thought out.
I used to mentor interns at my last job and always told them to think of their current job as a springboard to what they want to do next (whether it's saving money, or developing a skill, or even working in a low-pay/low-key place if they're burned out).