Miserable, and hanging on for another 9 months.

[mystang52]

My ER target has been "some time" 2013. I later refined it to 9/1/2013, then 8/1. It then went to 6/1 after realizing my finances can handle it...and my Misery Index won't let me go beyond then.
Yah, of course I could ER now but we're just not quite to the point where I would enjoy my ER without guilt.
Good news is that I "discovered" a small overlooked IRA and now intend to pull the plug 4/1 or 3/1.
Bad news is I am in a really deep funk at work. It's not working per se, it's this job in particular - man o man do I hate it. Realistically, finding another job is not in the cards -- too old, and very few jobs out there.
In a sense, knowing my time is limited seems to make the torture worse, rather than easier. I have a full and enjoyable life outside of work, but this 9-5 part is really getting to me.
Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[W2R]

Sorry to hear that the situation has become so bad at your work. If it is any comfort, the next nine months will be gone soon and you will have the rest of your life to recover from everything.

 

[jclarksnakes]

Is it the job that is so awful or is it your reaction to the job that makes it seems worse than it is? For many of us a lot of the stress of our jobs was because we had spent our entire working lives trying to be the best employee and not tolerating any personal errors. I was always competing to be the best and had adversarial relationships with too many coworkers because of it. When I made a mistake I would obsess over it and make myself miserable. Try relaxing and getting that "I don't care and you can't make me attitiude" that seems to work so well for less perfect and less competitive people.

 

[Midpack]

Look at the bright side, what's 9 months in the total of your life, just a moment! Imagine being in a "deep funk at work" with no hope of retiring in the foreseeable future. Just keep yourself busy at work and elsewhere, and the time will pass faster than you'd think like W2R mentioned. Just keep reminding yourself of the big picture, you're almost there.

If your job is long term project oriented at all, you may also have the special moment ahead before you retire, where you simply can't finish any new assignments. You just wind down what you've been working on - and consult on other projects that others will have to see through, which takes most of the pressure off. In any event, if your experience is like mine you'll reach a point when times moves very quickly. My retirement was announced (against my wishes) three months in advance. Months 3 and 2 dragged on, but the last 4 weeks went by in a flash!

Best of luck...

 

[donheff]

Look at the bright side, what's 9 months in the total of your life, just a moment! Imagine being in a "deep funk at work" with no hope of retiring in the foreseeable future. Just keep yourself busy at work and elsewhere, and the time will pass faster than you'd think like W2R mentioned. Just keep reminding yourself of the big picture, you're almost there.

+1

 

[Animorph]

I'd try to do at least one thing that you feel would make your job more tolerable. A vacation day every couple of weeks, come in late once in a while (and stay a little later), see if you can work four 10 hour days and take Fridays off. Anything that allows you to ease up or change the routine a bit. Not much help with co-workers, but maybe you can find something to do there as well. Become the curmudgeon you always wanted to be since the risks are lower now.

 

[Onward]

In a sense, knowing my time is limited seems to make the torture worse, rather than easier.

This was my experience also. I've never been able to relate to people who say that FI, or near-FI, made their j*b more tolerable.

 

[ziggy29]

This was my experience also. I've never been able to relate to people who say that FI, or near-FI, made their j*b more tolerable.

It can depend. It was the case for my dad as soon as he became FI when he was pension-eligible, because his bosses knew he'd retire if they pissed him off, and they didn't want to lose him. There was enough stuff he enjoyed about his job that he was left alone to do, and they shielded him from most of the BS that made him want to retire to begin with.

 

[ksr]

...see if you can work four 10 hour days and take Fridays off.

I did something like this for my last few years in megacorp, and it saved my sanity! Through a combination of flex-time and creative use of my vacation, I had every Friday off for a few years. I was miserable working at that j*b, and I think this schedule enabled me to stick it out until I could RE.

 

[mystang52]

Wow, I appreciate everyone's input! I won't bore you with the details but in essence my job is now mindless, boring, and other elements that [quite seriously] I can't divulge but make this job so obnoxious. Incidentally, virtually all of my duties have nothing to do with my job title or expertise. So, it's just a paycheck.
I have a grand vacation (Italy and Greece) coming up in July, my first Triathlon in September, then football season so all of that gives me some inspiration. And I will heed the advice here...in particular judicious occasional leave-early days.
Short work week? Not in this company.
Thanks again. I'll cheer up soon, I'm sure...

 

[ziggy29]

I did something like this for my last few years in megacorp, and it saved my sanity! Through a combination of flex-time and creative use of my vacation, I had every Friday off for a few years. I was miserable working at that j*b, and I think this schedule enabled me to stick it out until I could RE.

Quite a few years back (late '90s) my office offered an optional 4x10 work week to us, provided that there was a limit to the number of people who could request the same off day. Most wanted Fridays off, a few others took Mondays, getting a 3-day weekend either way.

Not me. I took Wednesdays off. I liked not having more than two consecutive work days. A day off was never more than 2 days away. On the occasions when we were going to go out of town and needed a three-day weekend, I'd usually be able to flex the off-day to Friday or Monday.

 

[fisherman]

Perhaps you could retire in place a little. This way you could work on your financial plan some, plan several trips in the future, make bucket lists( each list has a different priority or is one to do with or without family), research hobbies you may want to do in retirement, look for charities to give time too if that is a goal, plan and research home improvement projects. all the above can be done at a PC while looking busy for a few minutes a day. The mental break it will give you just might help.

I did not spend much time during the day on this but with a year to do it before I left I had quite a notebook of plans that after five years I can still pull something new out of it.

 

[pb4uski]

Is downshifting to part-time a possibility? As you probably know, many of us who were FI downshifted to part-time work with our then current employers prior to ER.

With my former employer, between 50% and 100% of hours, just about everything was proportional except for health insurance (which was 100% if you worked more than 50% time). If your employer is similar, perhaps you could shift to 3 or 4 days a week for 60% or 80% pay.

 

[East Texas]

You may find yourself in an awkward situation. If your employer feels you are no longer a contributing member of the team, or they grasp you have an attitude about being there at all, you may find yourself out of a job. If spring is your earliest out, you need to find something productive to do in the next nine months to get you to that date. You need to find something... anything.... that also gives your employer the perception you're doing something beneficial to the company.

You want to be able to leave on your own terms. You're too close to the finish line to be let go because of an attitude problem or a perception your job is no longer needed. It's time to create several short-term goals to get you by until your retirement. This means you come in happy every day and find something to work on that keeps you moving forward.

A word of caution: you may think you're able to keep your attitude to yourself - that's just not the case. Bad attitudes are infectious and can demoralize a team quickly. It's management's job to nip it quickly. If a short conversation with the employee doesn't help, then the employee is removed from the team and possibly from the company. I know this sounds like a hard line - it's reality. You don't want to wind up in Human Relations or in your boss's office with the "if you don't want to be here we can arrange for you to leave" discussion.

This is just a friendly observation for you to be careful so you can make it to your retirement / separation date on your own terms.

 

[MichaelB]

Mystang52, just keep in mind that a few months after you do retire you won't remember these moments of boredom - they will be among among the first memories to fade. Vacations, triathlon and football will not only keep you busy but probably give you more longer lasting memories of this time in your life.

 

[pfleming]

I've kind of gotten here with my FT position. I was feeling pretty good about the job, but this week the funk is back. I prefer to work when no one else is around, crank up the radio/mp3 player and close the door. I don't have the worst attitude in my building, but it's hard to maintain a positive outlook with all the red tape we deal with day in, day out. Thanks for venting and letting me vent.

 

[mystang52]

Thanks again; I've noted everyone's comments and suggestions. Specifically to East Texas' comments, I am well aware of not projecting my unhappiness. I'm human, so don't know how successful I am at that but I do endeavor to do my [boring] tasks with outside joy.
And, I do maintain a professional pride, so I would never overtly do anything to lose my job. However, if my job were to be eliminated -for unrelated reasons a possibility - I would be thrilled. As I wrote before, I could RE now. But the reasons to wait until March/April outweigh the misery, albeit not by much.

 

[Redbugdave]

Hi Mystang,

I have 1 year 6 months, and feel the same way. I am ready to get on with my life too, but cannot because of the system I am in...Feds...Golden Handcuffs Plan. Part of the way I feel, (and maybe you also), has to do with a lack of control over your situation at work. I see things for the way they are and now have a pretty good time enjoying the actors on their stages doing their parts at the jobs they do. I am on the downhill run now and laughter IS the best medicine. We had a thread a while back about what your retirement song would be. Someone here mentioned this one...and it became mine, too!

Here goes:
Lindisfarne - Born At The Right Time - YouTube

I am in the Class of 2014:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/the-class-of-2014-a-54050.html