I started working at Siemens Wind Power September 17, 2010. My initial impression was wonderful. And no doubt, it’s a great company in a very exciting industry. I have nothing bad to say about Siemens. Rather, I will just relay my own personal experiences working there – though I now realize that I am sure I would have experienced these things at any company.
I went to business school to learn entrepreneurship because I knew working in companies is not for me. I don’t like the politics, the limited scope of work, and the lack of freedom. But, in the end I had no million dollar idea so I entered the workforce.
Things started out fine at Siemens. But after a week or two, something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel right. I felt a strange aching in my chest sometimes, and other times I felt pressure in my neck where my carotid artery/jugular are. Sometimes my eye would twitch as well.
In short, I was suffering from stress. Sometimes it was the stress of not having enough work to do, other times it was having too much to do. But in general, I wasn’t happy and that was probably the biggest source of stress.
In the oil industry, I had experienced stress as well. I’d have to stay awake for 36-48 hours in a row at the wellsite, executing the orders of people I couldn’t stand. But maybe that was somehow balanced by the great team around me, my crew, since we operated like a family.
I recognized that my body was telling me that things weren’t good. Things weren’t right. But I resisted. I tried to overcome this using my brain, trying to convince myself that things are perfect. I’m in the happiest country in the world, life is extremely good here, I don’t need to worry about anything, and the work I’m doing benefits the planet. But no, my body was still rejecting this life.
I read a couple books about stress management and did my best to implement the lessons. It definitely helped and I incorporated some of the lessons learned in my life. But my body continued rejecting this life.
In all honesty, it was kind of frustrating and kind of scary. I didn’t like how I felt at all and I knew in the long run that this was very unhealthy and unsustainable.
I knew I had to start planning my departure, but just as in the oil industry when I was fed up and knew I needed to leave, I had nothing to switch to. This can cause more pressure, but I didn’t let it bother me. I just started thinking about how to change my life.
More to come on that in the next article!
My eye has been twitching for the last year. I am going to Vietnam this fall to teach English and hope it goes away 🙂 Congrats to you on your plunge!
Great to hear! I wish you the best of luck. Keep in touch and hopefully we’ll cross paths when I get to Vietnam! 🙂 Congrats on your plunge as well!