So here’s the story. Lately I’ve been incredibly depressed. There’s a lot that’s fed into it but suffice it so say that I have absolutely been drowning in life lately. I’m trying my hardest but everything just seems to work against me.
My job is a major factor in my depression. I am the store manager of a certain black and yellow retail chain that will build a store on the moon the second they believe it could be profitable. Long hours, working seven days a week most of the time, no overtime pay, can’t take the measly one week vacation they allow me every year because the store is suffering, some of my employees are unreliable (because my company refuses to allow me to pay them a decent wage), and just in general I really need to be there if I want the store to succeed. I’ve spoken to everyone close to me in my life about how these conditions are affecting me. They all seem to think that I should tough it out, keep going to work, keep making money. I get that, and for months now I have continued to do so despite my feelings.
I am a single father with two children (8, 2) and my ex (their mother) makes significantly less money than me, so I provide most of the things they need in life, happily. I currently live with my mother and stepfather after leaving said ex and they are gracious enough not to ask me to pay rent. However, I have about $15k in credit card debt, a car payment, loans to pay off, lots of debt. I made some really dumb, selfish choices in the months following leaving her and it led me to be in more debt than I’ve ever been. I still provide for my children but they are going to have the most meager Christmas of their young lives this year because of my selfish choices.
But here lately my depression has gotten so bad. I would literally rather be homeless than ever go back to my store. For three months I’ve been putting in application after application and haven’t gotten any serious interest from anywhere. But I don’t think I can take it anymore. This job is very, very detrimental to my mental health and while my primary goal in life is to be a good father I just don’t think I can do that if my job is making me so miserable. So Reddit, tell me, please give me some advice. Should I quit this job?