Young Aussie reveals her plan to never work a full-time job again
A young woman has revealed she is “genuinely scared” of having to work a full-time job, branding the current working reality in Australia “insane”.
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Jordan Stacey is only 24 and has already decided she doesn’t want to work full-time ever again.
Ms Stacey lives in Melbourne and was earning a $60,000 salary when she decided to take a year off and travel.
Now, she’s back home and preparing to secure a new job, but the idea of spending 40 hours every week at work again just doesn’t feel right.
It feels so wrong that Ms Stacey calls the idea of working full-time and clocking up 40 hours per week “absurd” and “insane”.
The 24-year-old, who also lives with chronic health issues, came to this conclusion because not working allowed her to have a better quality of life.
“Working full time enabled chronic poor health and limited my social life, and every moment not working felt like it was directed towards recovering,” she told news.com.au.
Ms Stacey said that when she was working, she was used to being too tired to see friends, go on dates, exercise, or eat healthy, but suddenly, when she wasn’t working, she discovered that she now had the time to fit all those things in.
When she returned from travelling and started going to job interviews for full-time positions, it dawned on her that she wasn’t willing to spend so much time at work, especially not at the detriment of everything else in her life.
“I am genuinely scared that the second I start working full-time, all the progress I’ve made on my physical and mental health will go out the window,” she said.
Instead, she’s decided to focus on finding part-time work.
“My biggest goal in life is to never work full-time,” she said.
While Ms Stacey understands she can’t avoid working altogether and is aware she’s privileged enough to be able to live off a part-time wage, she’s also prepared to sacrifice certain things to maintain a strong work-life balance.
In the short term, she will move out of her parent’s house, but if she works part-time, she won’t be in a “position” to save.
“I have started to look for part-time work and forego saving, buying a car and having freedom with money,” she said.
The young Aussie plans to try living off around $40,000 working part-time and prioritise her health and personal life.
In the long term, she knows she will have to make some bigger choices, but for right now, she feels prepared to make them.
“I won’t have kids if I can’t afford it. I won’t buy a house if I can’t afford it,” she said.
She’s also prepared not to have an expensive wedding, acquire expensive assets, or purchase a car if that means she can continue working part-time.
The young worker said that this isn’t because she hasn’t found the right career to invest in yet; instead, she wants to practice living a more varied life.
She also doesn’t think it matters how much you love what you do, no one should be spending 40 hours a week doing one thing
“I don’t want to do 40 hours of anything. There’s not one thing I want to do 40 hours of,” she said.
Ms Stacey said she also has no interest in working hard while she is young just so she can relax later in life and is not interested in get-rich-quick schemes.
She’s not trying to find unique ways to accrue wealth so she can plan to work less in the future, instead, she is focusing on the present.
At 24, she wants to enjoy her life more and feels like working 40 hours a week isn’t worth it, and she thinks the real trick is to learn to live on less. She wants to become someone who isn’t dependent on a full-time salary to live well.
“I don’t want to escape the rat race by hustling my way out of a 9-5. No, I want to cut my expenses down, so I never have to work full-time,” she said.
Ms Stacey’s working idea might sound like an uncommon goal, but when she posted her opinion on TikTok, she amassed 13,000 views, and plenty of young people agreed with her.
“I had the entire 2023 off. I have been back in full-time employment for 10 days, and it’s hell … I cry every day — at lunch, before work, and after work. Do not do it,” one person revealed.
“I work 23 hours a week, and I still feel like I’m drowning,” another said.
“It will be every bit as bad as you imagine,” one warned.
Another claimed that the 40-hour work week should be “illegal”.
Someone shared, “The happiest I’ve ever been was working part-time, seeing friends, and going to the park or ocean in the sun.”
Originally published as Young Aussie reveals her plan to never work a full-time job again
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