【Q&A Series】
Worn Out by Work, Still No Clue After Resigning — What Should I Do?
This May, I finally could not bear it any longer and resigned. Over the past year and more I had been going through burnout: every morning before work I would cry for no reason at all, and I could feel my whole soul being drained out of me. In the time since I left, I have kept trying to find what I love, and kept exploring new things. But three months have passed, and I still have no clue what to do next.
I very much want to go back to work, yet I do not know in which direction to look. I once tried casting my résumé far and wide, but I found that without a clear direction, all that came back were jobs and companies I did not like. I really want to find my direction in life as soon as possible, and to find work that I love. Right now I feel truly lost.
May I ask: in a situation like this, will focusing on reciting the Buddha's name help me find my direction in life? Because at this moment, I cannot think of any method other than reciting the Name.
Master Jingben Answers: Namo Amitabha. Five years in work you did not love, holding on until body and mind could hold no longer before you left — this has been a hard road, and you have truly been through a great deal. Many people know full well that a job does not suit them, yet keep wearing themselves down because they fear uncertainty. That you could summon the courage to leave was itself no easy thing.
And that three months after leaving you still have no clear direction is in fact entirely normal; please do not blame yourself for it.
1. Reciting the Name Settles the Heart
What reciting the Buddha's name gives us is the very thing we most need: peace of heart. Once the heart is in turmoil, everything we look at seems hazy. Take the very same job offer placed before you: seen with an anxious heart, it is all drawbacks and uncertainties; but once the heart has settled, you can actually tell whether it suits you or not. One who recites the Name has Amitabha Buddha to rely on, and so is naturally more settled. We do our best to fulfil our own part, and as for the rest — unseen and unknown, the best arrangement is already there. This quiet certainty is the greatest strength of all.
2. The Dharma and Our Work
The Buddha-Dharma speaks of "Right Livelihood": choosing a proper occupation, and not taking up work that harms sentient beings or goes against conscience. This is the most basic line.
But going a step further: if you can find work that benefits the community, that is best of all. The more people it benefits, and the more deeply, the greater the meaning of that work.
So it may help to ask yourself instead: "What can I do for others? What work could I do that would truly help people?"
In fact, whether a person can keep at a job for the long run — beyond simply making a living — usually comes down to whether it has meaning. Once you recognise the meaning of your own work, you naturally go further and last longer; and the greatest meaning, the deepest satisfaction, is precisely in benefiting others — for in benefiting others, in the end we benefit ourselves.
3. This Time of Transition
For this period of transition, here are a few suggestions:
(1) See whether three things can line up: what you are able to do, what can support you, and what is meaningful and you do not find distasteful. Where these three overlap, you can start there and see how it goes. There is no need to insist from the outset on "the perfect job" — in this world there has never been a job in which everything goes just as one wishes.
(2) When you meet with friends and those with more experience, ask them about their own positions: what the work actually involves, where the hard parts are, where the interest lies. What others have already been through can all serve as valuable reference.
(3) Land first, adjust later: if you truly cannot find anything, there is no harm in taking a lighter job that can support your living, and working while you look. As the saying goes, "ride a donkey while looking for a horse" — a direction can also be felt out gradually in the course of doing.
(4) Try many things: you might also take up some voluntary work, serve as a volunteer, and let yourself encounter and experience more in different environments. Sometimes a direction emerges, unnoticed, out of just such encounters.
(5) Give yourself time to recite: since a direction is not to be found for the moment, why not simply clear a day, or two days, with nothing scheduled at all, and quietly recite the Buddha's name. After reciting, many things that could not be seen clearly before will gradually come clear.
One last thing I would like to say: you are still young. That you have not found it yet is no cause for discouragement, and no cause for haste. Every stretch of road you have walked is experience accumulated; not one stretch has been wasted — including these five years, including these three months now. All of it will become nourishment for your growth in the years ahead. Take it slowly, give yourself a little time; it really is all right.
4. Take Good Care of Yourself
After the exhaustion you have been through, body and mind need time to recover slowly, so please allow yourself to rest a little more and to loosen up a little. Whatever else, do not forget to recite the Buddha's name.
5. Finally
There is no need to wait until you have an answer before your heart can settle; rather, let the heart settle first through reciting the Name, and then move forward slowly.
When you feel lost, recite. When you feel restless, recite. This one Name, "Namo Amitabha," is the finest support for our body and mind. Once the heart has settled within the Name, the road before you will naturally become clear, step by step — do what is humanly possible, and entrust the rest to Amitabha Buddha.
There is something else I would like to say to you: work is only one part of life; it is not the whole of life. We make use of work in order to live this life well — not spend a whole life to buy a job.
And most important of all — in this life you have already met Amitabha Buddha, and this is the most fortunate thing of all. With this to rely on, the difficulties before you are no more than small waves on the road of life; waves rise and waves fall, and with Amitabha Buddha here, you will surely make it through.
You are also most welcome to come to the Dharma center, to join in group practice and recite the Buddha's name together with everyone — your heart will feel more settled for it. Namo Amitabha
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