You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap) by Tammy Strobel

Author:Tammy Strobel [Strobel, Tammy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781608680849
Publisher: New World Library
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Redefining Success: Leaving Cubicle Nation

After graduating from California State University (CSU) with a bachelor of arts in economics and a master’s degree in public administration, I got a “real job” at Franklin Templeton Investments as a “futures associate” in a management-training program. It was a unique position because every four months I would be rotated to a new department in the company. I got experience as a supervisor and project manager. At first I was excited about driving to work and the status of my new position. Friends and family members were impressed by my new job. Unfortunately, the honeymoon period didn’t last very long. After about two months in the job, I started having back problems because I was sitting too much (both at work and during my commute), and I started to medicate myself, and avoid my true feelings, through shopping and drinking too much wine in the evenings.

As the year went on, I became more depressed. I would call Logan on coffee and lunch breaks in tears. At the time I couldn’t articulate why I was so unhappy. On the surface, I was living “the American dream,” but underneath I felt like I was stuck in quicksand. The quicker I moved, the faster I got sucked into a hole of depression. Because of our debt, I felt like I didn’t have any options. But Logan encouraged me, saying, “There are always options. The options might not be sexy or easy, but they are present.”

At Logan’s suggestion, I started taking baby steps to change my life. While I was still working for Franklin Templeton, I started getting more exercise, journaling, and eating healthier foods, slowly replacing my bad habits with healthy ones.

As these small steps became my routine, my depression abated, and I started to feel curious, happy, and excited again. My first big decision was to leave the investment management industry and return to graduate school. In the fall of 2005, I started a second master’s degree, this one in education, at California State University, Sacramento. Rather than spending my life working with money and numbers, I wanted to work with people. I brainstormed new careers that were closer to my dreams, like victim advocacy, teaching, and writing. I didn’t want a “job”; I wanted to find my calling. This change coincided with our downsizing.

During my time at CSU, I enrolled in a peer-counseling training program and started volunteering at a local rape crisis center. Instead of pushing paper around and pretending to do “work,” I was constantly learning new things in my classes and helping people in my spare time. I felt energized and useful, instead of drained and depressed, and it all started by redefining my version of success.

After graduation, I started working in the movement to end violence against women. For six years, as a volunteer and staff member, I did everything from counseling to research to public-policy advocacy. I loved the work, but eventually I felt burned out. I knew it was time to make another career change.

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