I've been working at this company for almost 3 months now. I'm a machinist working 50 hours a week. I wake up and start work at 5:00am, and I leave work by 3:30 from Monday through Friday.
I worked at another manufacturing plant for a little over a year before my current job, I started in that one right after I left HS (literally the Monday after graduation). I left that one because I thought my issues with the job were in that place in particular, but now I'm thinking it's the career itself that I need to get out of.
Don't get me wrong, I know it's considered a really good job and I thought I could do really well in it. I went to a vocational school for it while I was in highschool because I thought this is what I wanted to do. In that time from my 10th- 12th grade years I did co-op to see what it would be like actually working it, and I liked it. But now after really doing it for nearly 2 years, I feel completely and totally burnt out. I wake up dreading my shift. I'm depressed while I'm there. I count the minutes between breaks, and when I get to leave. I'm not sleeping nearly enough (3- 4.5 hours a night) and I can't fix it. I've lost my appetite. I get home and hate the fact that I'm going back in the morning. It's constantly on my mind and it's really starting to get to me.
I feel like total shit for wanting to leave it. I know it's a job some people stay in until retirement. I know my family is gonna be confused. I know some of them will be disappointed and upset. I just can't keep doing this to myself. I want to find another job for now that's low stress and take time to figure out what I really want to be my career but I'm nervous as hell. Machining is all I've known. I'm good at it, but I seriously can't do this to myself for much longer.