So Im an emt, and had a job that paid pretty well. Every company in my area was paying $13/14 an hour, but this place was paying $17, so I jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately this company was also 1 1/2 hrs away from me. I made it work since I liked the company and the pay was good at the time.
It was great until it wasn't. The shifts were 12hrs long, and I left home an hour early for traffic. That means between the work and commute, I was away from home 16hrs a day. My boss also regularly held us over, making the 12 hr shifts 13 or 14 hr shifts.
It was a night shift job, but I made it work at first. I would try to keep my night shift schedule every day, but that was hard. If I had any errands to do, that cut into sleep. I was getting a maximum of 5 hrs of sleep a night. I couldn't see friends because of the schedule. I would be up at night on my days off. I loved it at first, but it started being very lonely. Its hard to do anything since your friends and family is asleep when you're up.
I had to see a doctor and get put on anti depressants since my mental health got so bad. I just became a shell of my former self, the job was killing me. It was getting to the point that I wanted to kill myself. It took a while to even realize that it was my company that was killing me. Apparently you need sleep, a healthy diet, and sunlight to live. Who knew.
I stayed for too long since I enjoyed the company, but I wish I left a long time ago. I left 12 months ago, and life is great. My current company sucks, but it pays better, and its much closer to home.
Never sacrifice for a company, its not worth it.