[wikwocket]

While I'm all for making the most of your position, and not defining yourself by your job, I have to disagree that most jobs are bad and that you should just serve your time and go on with your life after 5pm. A good career is energizing, a bad job placement can be totally demoralizing, and everyone deserves to find a career that vitalizes them.

Work/life balance is hard to achieve with a great job, let alone if your job is soul-crushing, mind-numbing, impossible, badly managed, poorly located, or in an industry you're incompatible with. So I always advise people to look around if they're unhappy with their position. Even in a down market, there are possibilities out there, and you will never know until you look. And with due diligence, research, networking, etc, you can have some decent assurances about a potential new job is a good match for you.

Now of course there are situations where it may be better to stay where you are for a while, to get experience/build your resume/pay off loans/etc. But life is too short to work in a place that makes you unhappy, and family is far too important to have a job that robs you of energy which you could devote to them.