Life at 37, Balancing Career, Kids and Trying to Find Peace in Myself.

The 37 is the new 27 when I was younger. Women wanted it all and we just had to prioritize how we would get it. Juggling children and job is difficult. Everyone has to be on the same page are as close as possible.

You need to sit down and write the pros and cons of the old job and the new job. Will this job be a lateral transfer or will it move you up the ladder? Will you keep the benefits you have now? Will you or could you retire early? Will you need a coach to help you study for the exams so that you get good results? Only then will you know the should have/could have of the jobs.

We all want to feel like we make a difference in life to the people we work with. That is part of the human makeup.

Good luck to you. Please stop back with a decision.

the other S.

PS Be like the Nike commercial -- "Just do it!"

If you want a promotion or want to advance, great. It looks like there are things you can do to try and make that happen. If that's what you want, go for it. But there is no "should" about it, and that's the question you asked. You're asking, "Shouldn't I want this?" Well, you can want it, but if you are happy where you are, that's ok, too.

"Isn't it normal to want growth in career ... " Yes. It is perfectly normal. Maybe a better word would be common. It is very common for people to want those things. But it's also ok to be content.

I can't quite tell if this is soemthing you really want (which is perfectly fine and you should seek it) or if you're just convinced that you're supposed to want this and you shouldn't be content with things the way they are. It's ok to be content, or at least content for a time.

It's kind of something you have to decide for you. Personally, I think you should keep praying about it and give it time. If you do that, the answers will come.

This is really personal. If it were me, I would split into pros/cons based on your post above:
Pros: Job you like, flexibility, early retirement, great pay, great benefits, making a difference in others lives
Cons: not likely to be promoted

I feel like you have a lot to lose if you move jobs. As for your question - isn't it normal to want growth in a career? Not always. Would you consider a teacher a failure if she's terrific at teaching kids of all abilities, but she never becomes a school principal? I certainly would not. What about your church pastor? Is he a slacker if he touches the people in your church, but doesn't end up the leader of a mega-church? Of course not.

Some people have burning ambition to move up at work. As you can guess based on my post, I want to be good at what I do, I want to be valuable in my job, and I want to make a difference for people. But I'm not at all concerned with ambition at work. My personal compass tells me that other things are more important. What does your personal compass tell you? If you are ambitious, then own it and go for it, knowing you won't be happy unless you can say you tried - even if that means risking the 'pros' above. But there is a lot of societal pressure telling us that we MUST be ambitious to be happy. And it's not true. It is also ok to be happy in the job you have if you are, in fact, happy in the job you have.

Oh boy my sister works for the government so I get it, the whole ranking/promotion system is insane! She has coworkers that literally fall asleep at their desks after lunch (and no these are not new young tired mothers.)
I can't really give you much advice, but I will say that of COURSE you want to be satisfied at work. You spend a huge amount of time there, it may not be as important as your family but it's still a big part of your life.
So what's wrong with exploring other options? I mean of course the pay and benefits and hours will need to make sense but I see nothing wrong with wanting more out of life.

Good question someone asked about hours if you get promoted. Often senior people work more hours. If that's the case, I'd try to be content. If you'd still have the flexibility and great hours you have now, might be worth a year of pain. I have a great job to when I look at pay and flexibility. So I don't care about promotions bc I believe you usually can't have it all. Work/life balance is somewhat rare these days so I figure I already won. I am so happy I can make a nice financial contribution and not hate my job or be really stressed and be there for my kids. 12 hours is already really long. I've never been gone that many hours on a regular basis. And as someone said, I find it more important to be around for my kids as they get older. Their problems are more complicated. But it's all a personal decision.

I would ask this: is the intense period temporary so you can get the post or is it something that would continue. Would you work late all the time after promotions to a point of missing time with your kids or would you have the same flexibility you have now?

I have a friend that kind of met this same issue. She could get her masters with job paying for it and have a chance at an officer position paying a lot more, still with flexibility to be for her family. But the year to get that masters could be intense with a lot of classes, studying, study groups etc. Her husband and mom were totally on board with what she wanted to do. She got the masters, and spends a lot of time with the family now after her hard work is done. She does take her phone with her to events and outings incase emergencies come up but is very happy she took the chance.

My personal experience has been - when something is right it sort of comes along as an opportunity you grab and run after, without too much thinking. Heart and head in same place. I have made plenty of decisions NOT that way, and they never turned out half as well as the ones that were just easy to make.

My mom has always told me if I couldn't decide, sleep on it. Sometimes that's for 6 months or a year. Unless there's a rush, maybe take a while and the answer will become clearer.

My other personal experience is that the women I know who seem to be happiest, have work/life balance. As your kids get older, they actually need you more than when they are little - or so I have found. Preteens and teenagers especially. Life gets busier as you go on.

Good luck :)

You are unhappy. Your life isn't for your family or friends or anyone else. Your life is for you.

If you want to do better then you should be able to stand up and say I am going to do this training for me. Not for you, for me. I am important. I can have this.

Well, what is your career path if you choose to go the POST route? What will life look like after you get done and are promoted? Will you be working a lot more hours and never see your children? How will your retirement change? Your kids are still really young now. If this is something that would be a temporary 6 month period of crazy before your life stabilizes again, then it makes sense to me. If you life would permanently be way more demanding, then maybe reconsider or do it when your kids are a bit older.