If I'm 100% honest I can't think of any job that I have had since college that I have truly loved.
Some jobs I liked and some jobs I hated but none I that loved.
From what I gather most of my friends and work colleagues have had the same experience.
Work to them is just that - work.
If they had the choice they would much rather be somewhere else doing something else.
I often wonder why we bother.
  Why not just jack it all in and go live on a small farm and become self sufficient? Then I could close my doors and my mind to the 'real' world and live happily ever.
This is one of my little daydreams around the daily three o'clock slump.
When my energy is sagging after lunch and just before I go for my 'get me to 5:30' coffee I seem to slip in to daydreaming mode.
Physically I'm at work but mentally I'm a million miles away.
It is in this daydreaming mode that I dream of upping sticks and heading to the country with my solar panels strapped to the roof of my car.
  So why do I have these daydreams? It's simply because I don't like my job and I hate the fact that I have to stay in it to pay my debts.
I use my daydreams as an escape from the pain of my job and my situation.
I'm not alone in this.
At any given point in my working day I can look around the office and see one of my colleagues with a thousand yard stare on their faces and I just know that in their mind they are on a beach somewhere.
  So what keeps me and my colleagues in jobs that we don't seem to like much? The simple answer is debt.
  No matter how much you want to leave your job and take the risk of going after what you truly want in life, if you have debt then you are unlikely to take the chance.
Most people would rather languish in a job that they hate rather than risk disruption to their income by going after a dream or even just a better more challenging job.
I understand this completely as I am one of those people.
  Here's my logic and reasons behind staying in the same job until my debt is paid.
  Consistency - If you have a debt repayment plan, any sort of debt repayment plan, then one of the key things you are going to need is consistency of income.
The last thing that you need is for your income to be disrupted.
Your plan is based on your current income levels.
When you shift jobs you may increase your income but there may be a readjustment period depending on the dates of the pay in your old job versus your new job.
This can be unsettling and may cause your debt repayment plan to go off kilter.
  Change - No one likes change.
Changing jobs is regarded as one of the more stressful life events.
If you are already stressed enough by the weight of your debts then the last thing you need is additional stress of starting a new job and trying to bond with new work colleagues.
In you current job the chances are there are people you like and people you don't like but either way you know their moods and quirks and they know yours.
While it may not create a perfectly harmonious work environment it does enable you to navigate work politics a lot easier than if you were the newbie.
  Focus - If you know your job inside and out then you have a certain level of comfort with it.
You generally know what to expect and when to expect it, you have daily routines and habits.
This level of comfort with your job allows you to free up energy to focus on your debt repayment plan.
That's where you want to be - in a situation where you can focus on eliminating your debt.
Not in the situation where you are anxious and worried about your new job and also worried about your debt.
The chances are one of them will suffer as you try to give attention to both and from personal experience the one that will slip is your focus on your debt plan.
  But you absolutely hate your job, right?   I can identify with this completely.
As I mentioned in a previous article I was in the situation where I hated my job and had a bucket load of debt.
The situation became unbearable because I resented the fact that I was trapped by my debt in a job that I hated.
Eventually I realized that my attitude was working against me and moving me further away from my goal of paying off my debt.
I set about slowly making amends by focusing on how my job allowed me to focus on paying off my debts.
  I knew the job inside and out and I could practically do the work in my sleep.
I realized what a huge benefit this was.
After awhile I began to look on my job as an enabler - it allowed me to get paid a consistent income and focus on my debts without having the stress and worry of trying to prove myself in a new role.
  OK so you still hate your job?   Then think long term.
Your ultimate goal should be to get debt free and get a job that you like and enjoy.
The logical order should be that you focus on paying down your debt and then you can pour all your energy into getting that job or new career that you want.
  I know from painful personal experience that staying in a job you hate is incredibly tough.
Everything is telling you to run screaming from the building.
Then to solve the problems of your debt and your job then you need to focus on them one at a time.
Debt first job second.
  The simplest way to survive in a job that you hate is to develop coping strategies.
You could give yourself simple rewards to get yourself through the day.
You could develop a long term plan that incorporates paying off your debt and then switching to a new job or career.
 Set a specific date in the future that you aim to have X amount of debt paid off and a new job in the pipeline.
  Remember that while you may hate your job now you don't have to stay in it forever.
You will move on and find something you like better.
Look on your current job as a means to an end.
See the benefits that it offers you as you tackle your debt burden.
I'm sure when you look back on your current job in ten years time that you won't even remember the bad stuff - all that you will remember is that you put your head down and got on with it.