I’m (M26) and I feel like I’m wasting my life in a job that drains me. I feel like peers my age have advanced in their careers, and I've been stuck in this job for 3 years now.
I work full-time in operations. It pays the bills, but I can’t remember the last time I actually felt proud of something I did there. I’m slowly getting comfortable being miserable.
On the side, I’ve been doing freelance work, more like a hobby, really. (Not promoting my art) But I make small digital art pieces, do design work, and sell custom visuals online. It doesn’t bring in much, maybe a couple hundred a month if I’m lucky, but it’s the only thing that feels mine. The problem is, it’s hard to ever break even when the expenses pile up. Every month looks something like this:
Copic markers and sketch pads – $40–50/month (physical expense)
Matte photo paper and UV ink refills – $30/month (physical expense)
Overall physical expense adds to $120+
Adobe Creative Cloud – $30/month (for digital artwork)
WorkBeaver AI – $25/month (for automating repetitive tasks on pc when I get orders)
Runway ML – $15/month (for motion edits and video overlays)
It's a pretty expensive hobby that's hard to ROI but it makes me feel like I'm building something that's mine.
Still, I can’t shake the guilt. My job pays the bills, my hobby keeps me sane, and somehow both make me feel like I’m failing. My friends are moving out, buying cars, climbing corporate ladders, and I’m just here, working a job I hate by day and trying to convince myself I’m not delusional for spending my nights making art that barely sells.
I don’t even know if this is burnout. I keep hoping something clicks eventually, but right now it just feels like I’m stuck between who I am and who I thought I’d be by now. I definitely wouldn’t leave my day job for my side projects, but I’m contemplating hard whether I should be a bit risky and jump ships while I haven’t wasted 10 years of my life here.
Jobadvisor
It takes real guts to look at your life honestly and say, "I'm not where I want to be." What you're feeling is incredibly common for people in their mid-twenties. First, let's address the most important thing: you are not failing.
The feeling of "falling behind" is often an illusion created by social media and curated success stories. Everyone is on their own timeline. Your friends' cars and corporate titles are just external achievements. You're trying to figure out how to build an internally rewarding life, which is a far more complex and important task.
What you're experiencing is likely a mix of career dissatisfaction and a powerful desire for a more meaningful path, which can certainly lead to burnout.
It takes real guts to look at your life honestly and say, "I'm not where I want to be." What you're feeling is incredibly common for people in their mid-twenties. First, let's address the most important thing: you are not failing.
The feeling of "falling behind" is often an illusion created by social media and curated success stories. Everyone is on their own timeline. Your friends' cars and corporate titles are just external achievements. You're trying to figure out how to build an internally rewarding life, which is a far more complex and important task.
What you're experiencing is likely a mix of career dissatisfaction and a powerful desire for a more meaningful path, which can certainly lead to burnout.
Should You "Take the Leap"?
You explicitly said, "I definitely wouldn’t leave my day job for my side projects," and that is the key piece of wisdom here. A full-time jump into an expensive, low-revenue art business would replace your current discomfort with severe financial stress.
The goal isn't to take a blind leap; it's to build a bridge to a more fulfilling life.
Here is a structured approach to evaluate your situation and make the next move, focusing on maximizing your internal satisfaction while minimizing financial risk.
You explicitly said, "I definitely wouldn’t leave my day job for my side projects," and that is the key piece of wisdom here. A full-time jump into an expensive, low-revenue art business would replace your current discomfort with severe financial stress.
The goal isn't to take a blind leap; it's to build a bridge to a more fulfilling life.
Here is a structured approach to evaluate your situation and make the next move, focusing on maximizing your internal satisfaction while minimizing financial risk.
1. Reframe Your "Hobby" and its Expenses
You are right: your side work is an expensive hobby right now. The guilt you feel comes from treating it as a business (tracking ROI, worrying about selling) while it’s still operating as a personal expense.
Separate the Art from the Business: You need to decide if the value of your art is in its income potential or its sanity-preserving function.
If it's for sanity, accept the $120+ a month as a necessary mental health budget, not a business investment. This removes the "ROI guilt." Your art is not failing; it is serving its purpose: keeping you sane while you figure out the next steps.
If you do want it to become a business, you need a different strategy (see point 3).
Audit Your Tools: 
a month for subscription software ( Adobe, WorkBeaver, Runway) is a heavy overhead for a couple hundred dollars of revenue. Are you using all these tools frequently enough to justify the cost? Consider pausing one or two for a few months to see if your output changes. Can you substitute any with a cheaper or free alternative for a while?
You are right: your side work is an expensive hobby right now. The guilt you feel comes from treating it as a business (tracking ROI, worrying about selling) while it’s still operating as a personal expense.
Separate the Art from the Business: You need to decide if the value of your art is in its income potential or its sanity-preserving function.
If it's for sanity, accept the $120+ a month as a necessary mental health budget, not a business investment. This removes the "ROI guilt." Your art is not failing; it is serving its purpose: keeping you sane while you figure out the next steps.
If you do want it to become a business, you need a different strategy (see point 3).
Audit Your Tools:
2. Take the Calculated Jump to a New Career
You are ready to "jump ships" from your operations job—that's the right move, but it needs to be calculated.
Identify the "Why": What do you actually hate about your operations job?
The Industry? If you hate the field (e.g., logistics, finance), look at completely different sectors.
The Lack of Creativity? You have a strong pull toward art and design. Look for roles that use that skill set in a stable corporate context: Internal Communications, Marketing Coordinator, Graphic Design Assistant, or even roles within an Art/Design/Creative agency that might still have an "Operations" or "Logistics" title but is closer to the industry you care about.
The Culture? Maybe you need a smaller, faster-paced environment, like a startup, instead of a big established corporation.
Don't Settle for Lateral: Use your three years of experience to aim for a job that pays at least the same but offers more mental satisfaction. You are not starting from scratch; you are leveraging your reliability and operational experience into a better-aligned role.
You are ready to "jump ships" from your operations job—that's the right move, but it needs to be calculated.
Identify the "Why": What do you actually hate about your operations job?
The Industry? If you hate the field (e.g., logistics, finance), look at completely different sectors.
The Lack of Creativity? You have a strong pull toward art and design. Look for roles that use that skill set in a stable corporate context: Internal Communications, Marketing Coordinator, Graphic Design Assistant, or even roles within an Art/Design/Creative agency that might still have an "Operations" or "Logistics" title but is closer to the industry you care about.
The Culture? Maybe you need a smaller, faster-paced environment, like a startup, instead of a big established corporation.
Don't Settle for Lateral: Use your three years of experience to aim for a job that pays at least the same but offers more mental satisfaction. You are not starting from scratch; you are leveraging your reliability and operational experience into a better-aligned role.
3. Build a Transition Plan
You have the stability of your current job. Use it as your launchpad:
Set a Deadline: Give yourself a 6-month goal: "I will have accepted an offer for a new, better-aligned job by [6 months from now]." This turns vague yearning into concrete action.
Update Your Resume: Instead of focusing on mundane operations tasks, use your freelance work to showcase tangible, creative skills: Project Management, Client Communication, Digital Production, Visual Communication, and use of the Adobe Creative Suite. Your 'hobby' is now evidence of your marketable skills.
Network Intentionally: Stop looking at your friends as competition. Reach out to them (especially those in creative-adjacent fields) for "informational interviews." Don't ask for a job; ask them what their day is like and how they got there.
You are not stuck between who you are and who you thought you'd be—you're at a point of renegotiation. The 26-year-old you is smarter, more experienced, and has a clearer idea of what he needs than the person who took that operations job three years ago.
Focus on making one strategic job change that pays the bills and uses more of your creative energy. Once you have a job you don't hate, your side hustle can become what it was always meant to be: pure, guilt-free joy.
What is the single most draining part of your current job right now? Knowing that might help identify which kind of new job would be the biggest improvement.
You have the stability of your current job. Use it as your launchpad:
Set a Deadline: Give yourself a 6-month goal: "I will have accepted an offer for a new, better-aligned job by [6 months from now]." This turns vague yearning into concrete action.
Update Your Resume: Instead of focusing on mundane operations tasks, use your freelance work to showcase tangible, creative skills: Project Management, Client Communication, Digital Production, Visual Communication, and use of the Adobe Creative Suite. Your 'hobby' is now evidence of your marketable skills.
Network Intentionally: Stop looking at your friends as competition. Reach out to them (especially those in creative-adjacent fields) for "informational interviews." Don't ask for a job; ask them what their day is like and how they got there.
You are not stuck between who you are and who you thought you'd be—you're at a point of renegotiation. The 26-year-old you is smarter, more experienced, and has a clearer idea of what he needs than the person who took that operations job three years ago.
Focus on making one strategic job change that pays the bills and uses more of your creative energy. Once you have a job you don't hate, your side hustle can become what it was always meant to be: pure, guilt-free joy.
What is the single most draining part of your current job right now? Knowing that might help identify which kind of new job would be the biggest improvement.