Psycology of a Third Job

In my widely publicized plunge into my winery job, I now have three jobs, and five sources of income. This new job has come with a fear...

First of all, I have my day time job. Economically it’s number 1. I'm an engineer. I have been since middle school trying to make camping stoves and rockets in my basement. When it comes to priorities about where to spend my time, I spend three to four times as much time engineering as exercising. I spend about as much time during the week engineering as I do sleeping, and I sleep a lot. In short, I am incredibly fortunate to be blessed in the situation I have.

Second, I have my coaching job. It's scant on income, but half of minimum wage is worth it to me get the physical and social experience and develop as a coach and communicator. It is an opportunity for me to teach and lead, and given that I am relatively new at it, a huge opportunity to learn.

Fourth I have my investments. I have a knack for losing money, but between dividends and cumulative sales I have ended the last two years, my only two investing year, positive. What do I do with "extra" money that I don't need to live? I invest it. It is possible that one day my investments will be my greatest source of income, although that thought too scares me for similar reasons to my third job fear.

Fifth, I have Squidoo, which surprisingly earned me close to two tanks of gas last year. No, it's not much, I blow that much money going out to eat on the weekends, but it is something.

Third, yes I put these out of order on purpose, I have my new winery job. It fulfills a social aspect that I had been lacking. I have a lot of fun out there! It does not feel like work. However, I do earn money out there. I am afraid that after my 57 weeks of unemployment and underemployment I have a fear of unemployment happening again, so I seek out income opportunities. I don't want to think of myself as that person who works all the time and never takes the time to relax a little and enjoy life, but at least a little, that is who I am.

I have had the discussion a few times about how people (specifically people I know or knew) reacted to the Great Depression. Almost all Great Depression survivors worked awfully hard economically. Some sought to escape the harsh memories through spending and extravagance and luxury, while others diverged into the image of visible states of poverty, with massive savings, fearing another collapse. It may be that those who were older pursued the image of visible poverty route while the slightly younger pursued the luxury route, although that is just conjecture. 

I always thought that I would get a new car right out of college. I still have not bought a car, more than three years after grad school ended. Now I have a third job. As I think about the future I wonder, 'how will my fear of another Great Recession impact my life? What impact will those 57 weeks have on me throughout my life and how will that that affect my relationships with others?'