(Omnis, ita spells her name with a lowercase "i"--just letting you know because I know it is a sore point for her and you'd have no way to know.)

ION, I am off for a long weekend! Woot! Of course I have to grade 46 "Lost Books" of the Odyssey, which is not quite as exciting, but still. Time to GO HOME.

A really bad work environment can suck out so much of your soul and self-confidence that it ultimately won't advance your career.

Not enough WORD in the world. Having had an awful awful work environment in the not too distant past, I learned that it is the most important thing in the work world to me. The bad just took over my whole life and sucked any joy out of it. Thank God I'm out of that hell!

Yikes! Thanks Pix for the heads up. Sorry ita.

Your family does seem to have expectations for you that are not necessarily in synch with your expectations.

or reality.

This is what I feel like, but I also feel like I should be looking out for my career as a professional and an adult and all that. My uncle expects me to be making six figures by 2011, after all.

I am going to be blunt. Being an adult means not giving a rat's ass about your uncle's expectations for *your* career.

A really bad work environment can suck out so much of your soul and self-confidence that it ultimately won't advance your career.

Bingo. Also, a really bad work environment can be so stressful that you just wouldn't be able to concentrate on advancing your career.

A really bad work environment can suck out so much of your soul and self-confidence that it ultimately won't advance your career.

This. I took a $10K pay cut to move from my last school to this one, and it was worth every lost penny.

I am going to be blunt. Being an adult means not giving a rat's ass about your uncle's expectations for *your* career.

Also this.

I am going to be blunt. Being an adult means not giving a rat's ass about your uncle's expectations for *your* career.

I don't seriously expect to fulfill that expectation, but I do think I should be watching out for my career in general. Because...careers are good? I don't know; maybe I should attempt to become a drug safety person instead. But that's not really what I want to do. I'd rather be writing in some capacity for money, even if it's medically.

You should absolutely be watching out for your career and I am not suggesting otherwise. But you depend a lot on what your uncle thinks of everything (car, work, women) and until you can shake that dependency off, and take his opinions with the same grain of salt as everyone else's, you're not an adult.

PC I know you've had issues with your family and their expecations but really it is your career and doing something that you want to go to work for.

I have a co worker who was offered a job elsewhere that was more money and guaranteed advancement (versus here where it will probably happen but there are a couple obstacles) but she chose stay because of her previous job. Which she was at for a decade and hated, but the money and benefits were so good she didn't feel she could afford to quit. She said most of her coworkers felt that way and stayed until the location was closed and everyone was laid off. She (and everyone else) was relieved to be laid off and not have to deal with that whole situation. So she's staying where she is because she is extremely happy in the work environment and she gets along great with her boss.

OMG so maddening! I think staying home is the best option for your sanity.

Yes it was maddening. My anxiety level has gone to zero and I'm so relaxed. Dad did call me to say he was leaving this afternoon and did I want to go . But declined. Especially when I heard he was planning on driving straight through and was going a route where earlier today part of the road was closed but he's sure is opened now.