Has anyone experienced burn out due to shift work and night shift?

[Elite]

3 years ago I switched into a rotating day/night shift schedule for a increase in pay.

The days are long. I leave the house at 5 am and get home at 7 pm. I only do nights once a month but it is for a 7 night stretch.

Over the last few years I have started to notice that I don’t get as excited for my hobbies or hunting trips. For example packing for a long trip seems like a daunting challenge now and the effort involved is overwhelming. I remember years ago I packed weeks in advance just on pure excitement for the trip.

So I am wondering if this could be possible burn out from the job or just getting older and not enjoying the same things in life?

I have never been a quitter and always ran with mindset of “never quit” “tough it out other people work the same shift”

Also has anyone took a reduction in pay for a better work to life balance and regretted it?


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[2ski]

Think about it like a drug. The same thing only gets you high for so long before you need more or different.

It could be work. Could also be something to talk to someone about. You'd be the one that has to make that call.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Also has anyone took a reduction in pay for a better work to life balance and regretted it?

Nope, one of the best decisions I ever made was leaving a job that paid me over $100hr and I was working over 100hrs a week but i had zero work life balance. Now i get paid less and work less and I am much happier.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Your body only has so much adrenaline to give... shift work can grind you down to a nub. We took a major pay cut to be a one income household so one of us can stay home with our kids. Little different scenario, but the quality of life discussion is similar. Have not regretted the changes at all.

 

[Timplant]

I worked a 2 week hitch in the oilfield for 8 years (two weeks of days, home for two weeks, two weeks nights, home for two weeks) and it was awesome, nights are cooler with less management, but also, colder and more boring, and vice versa! Pro's and cons to all of it. HOWEVER, after 8 years, even tho I preferred working nights, I couldn't get used to it, i'd drive 14hrs home and sleep an hour, sometimes I'd drive home and sleep for two days, some hitches it would take me a day to adjust and sometimes I mever fully adjusted.... My wife worked nights as a nurse for 3 years. we both decided we won't do it anymore. it seems to throw everything else off!!!!

some people love it, but, be honest with yourself, is THAT whats doing it? or is there something else going on..... we all need help sometimes!

 

[IDVortex]

We take jobs sometimes where it's just a job. That in itself taxes you in all the other areas.

You could also just be mentally done. Ever thought of talking to a counselor?

Also could he due to health, how is your health? Eating habits?

I'm working a job that I absolutely hate, though it pays good and is honestly a easy job. But it's a career killer for me, and also has killed the drive I once had in myself to own my own business( more to that then the job). I'm always looking for a new career, and as I right this my wife and I are actually looking into moving to MT if I can get into a job I'd enjoy and make close to what I do now, or get into LE for a career.

The other thing, we make ourselves unhappy. We're our worse enemy.

I'd check with your health first, then go talk to someone.

 

[Taudisio]

3 years ago I switched into a rotating day/night shift schedule for a increase in pay.

The days are long. I leave the house at 5 am and get home at 7 pm. I only do nights once a month but it is for a 7 night stretch.

Over the last few years I have started to notice that I don’t get as excited for my hobbies or hunting trips. For example packing for a long trip seems like a daunting challenge now and the effort involved is overwhelming. I remember years ago I packed weeks in advance just on pure excitement for the trip.

So I am wondering if this could be possible burn out from the job or just getting older and not enjoying the same things in life?

I have never been a quitter and always ran with mindset of “never quit” “tough it out other people work the same shift”

Also has anyone took a reduction in pay for a better work to life balance and regretted it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I ran into the same exact thing, but I only lasted two years. Switched positions in the same office, $3/hr less pay, better days off/working hours, 1/4 the daily stress. I would do it 10 times over.

I get even more excited for trips/hunting. Plan and do things outside of work more often.

My mindset changed when I wasn’t excited and missed the first opening day of duck season in my entire life. I noticed it, told the boss I wasn’t happy and of the open position, or I would be seeking other employment. He said he didn’t want to lose me and had me moved over in two days. 5 years later and I wouldn’t go back, and I’ve moved up in my current department and making more than I would have been in my other spot (if I didn’t promote).

Life is too short. IMO, if it’s not a spot that will make you retire 20 years early, it’s not worth the time/mental health put in.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

Rotating shift work just about killed me, my body could not handle the rotations at all. Getting into a standard work schedule is one of the better things that's happened to me.

 

[Taudisio]

I should have added that it didn’t hurt that while explaining the importance of my hunting to my boss, that he has a pair of mallards and a lever gun mounted above his head in the office…..

 

[eamyrick]

I work in LE and rotating shift work is part of the life. Between other first responder careers the science seems pretty clear that rotating and night shift has the potential to hurt your endocrine system. I talked to a firefighter in his 20s at a training last month who’s T was in the low 100s.

The positives don’t seem to outweigh the potential negatives. It definetly did not work for me and I got off of rotating schedules as soon as possible.

 

[Elite]

We take jobs sometimes where it's just a job. That in itself taxes you in all the other areas.

You could also just be mentally done. Ever thought of talking to a counselor?

Also could he due to health, how is your health? Eating habits?

I'm working a job that I absolutely hate, though it pays good and is honestly a easy job. But it's a career killer for me, and also has killed the drive I once had in myself to own my own business( more to that then the job). I'm always looking for a new career, and as I right this my wife and I are actually looking into moving to MT if I can get into a job I'd enjoy and make close to what I do now, or get into LE for a career.

The other thing, we make ourselves unhappy. We're our worse enemy.

I'd check with your health first, then go talk to someone.

Surprisingly the last 2 years my eating habits have never been better as I routinely go to the gym now. It has a positive affect on my mind after the stress of work. I also hardly ever drink alcohol anymore. Maybe 1 beer a month around the camp fire


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[Lawnboi]

I wouldn’t be in the fire service had I known the toll that 18,24, 40 hours up straight would do to me. My sleep is screwed. The down range effects of 20 years of it is now becoming very known due to studies.

I’d avoid nights at all cost.

 

[Steve O]

Yes. Humans were not made to stay up all night. I used to work 3rd shift in an auto plant. I felt terrible all the time. The greedy union guys who did it for the shift premium all SAID they LOVED it. Funny because they were all 30-40 year olds who looked like they were in their 70s…

 

[flathead#2]

I cant do thirds. I've left two jobs because of it.
The last one had me working first, second and third shift in the same week.
Man, I stayed messed up.
And burnout? I'm burned out after 24 years of regular day shifts.

 

[fngTony]

Nope, one of the best decisions I ever made was leaving a job that paid me over $100hr and I was working over 100hrs a week but i had zero work life balance. Now i get paid less and work less and I am much happier.

Can I ask what $100 an hour job is?

 

[mtwarden]

In the early 80's when I was in the Air Force we worked 6 days on with three off. At first blush sounded pretty good. The kicker was the first three days we worked a swing shift (2:00 PM-10:00 PM), the next three days we worked three mids (10:00 PM to 6:00 AM) and then three days off. Well with a family and kids you treat your three days off as "days". So basically every three days you did something different. About a year of that had me desperately wanting on day shift (6:00 AM to 2:00 PM); fortunately I was successful in doing that.

I talked to someone a few years back that was in the job as I was and if they still did that rotating shift—said they discontinued it over 20 years ago

 

[SuperDUECE22]

Can I ask what $100 an hour job is?

Consultant & crew foreman in the Oil & Gas Industry

 

[coloyooper]

I wouldn’t be in the fire service had I known the toll that 18,24, 40 hours up straight would do to me. My sleep is screwed. The down range effects of 20 years of it is now becoming very known due to studies.

I’d avoid nights at all cost.

17 years to go. I tell myself the 20 days off per month makes it worth it.

 

[Yoder]

I work 12 hr shifts with a 1 hr 20 min commute. I leave right at 5am and get home a little before 8:30. I only work days and we do a 3-2 schedule so I never work more than 3 days in a row. I've been doing it since 2005. For me it's the job itself and the commute more than the hours. I don't mind working long hours to get more days off, I'm just bored with my job. I only work 14 days a month.

Night shift would be the biggest problem for me. I've done it for a few months at a time and I want no part of that. There's a night shift job open right now where I work, it would be over a $1000/ month raise. They can keep it. They say working nights is worse than smoking. I don't need the money that bad.

 

[BTLowry]

Life is too short to work in a job you hate

Some people can work night shifts, I am not one of them.