Re: Job Stress. Gray hair. Dilemma. Need advice.

I spent time in personnel in the military and also a couple of years in personnel with a major corporation where I assisted those seeking a career and those trying to fit into their jobs. 

I agree with parazapper.  If you’re in a job you can’t stand and it’s affecting your personal happiness, in my mind there’s only one thing to do and that’s to leave and do something different.  The fact that in this day and age you are actually able to choose a job in another part of the country is commendable even if it is a little lower on the pay scale because the unemployment rate is currently so high.

I personally have a varied background because of my initial limited education and experience.  After military service that included combat (personnel was boring so I transferred to line duty) I had the G. I. Bill but didn’t know if I could handle college or not.  But after five years in a dead end job and with a family I started college unloading box cars on graveyard shift with a hand truck and going to school full time in the day time.  Got an MA and got a job at a major corporation at a decent salary where I ended up in computer programming and systems design.  The degree(s) didn’t make me a damned bit smarter, but it opened doors and after spending a couple of years with the corporation in personnel which I detested, got them to retrain me in computer programming and had a very successful and rewarding career.

I began my college direction at age 30 with a wife and two kids and have never regretted it.  Sometimes you have to make a few sacrifices to achieve long term goals but it can be very rewarding.