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Can someone please advise me on this? I am really having a difficult time making this life changing decision.?

When I was 20 my wife(g/f at the time) and I foudn out we were having a baby. We quickly jumped into an accelerated college program (i went for business and she went for accounting) to make sure we would be able to provide for our son and be very wealthy. During the last 3 years I was working a job m-f 7:00 am- 2:30p.m and also work 4 hours saturday and 4 hours sunday. I would go to school two days a week from 5-9:30 at night and either take a saturday class or an online class. Well I got really used to the schedule and having time. I would get home on days I didn't have school spend a few hours with my son then go to the gym with my friends and my brother for 2 hours and then come home most days to spend time with my family and other times go to my friends house and just hang out a little. A perfect balance right? Well I graduated in December and a friend from school who like my work at school was actually pretty high up in a fortune 300 company and he was able to get me a supervisor job that I started early February. Since I have started the job I have been miserable. My thoughts are very depressed. I can not help but to think how short life is and how life is going to fly by. I don't think in days I only think in years. Things I used to enjoy doing I do not get the same enjoyment or I feel I don't have the time to balance those things. The hours are 3:30 in the morning till about 4:40 or sometimes to 6:00 at night. Other hours I work are 4:45 to 3:30(which isn't that horrible) and currently I am working 3:00p.m. to 1 or 2 a.m. I will be 24 years old at the end of next month and I feel so trapped. I have been thinking about going back to school to get a Secondary Education Degree in Matematics( which is what I went to college for when i was 18 but dropped out because I was still dealing with issues from my moms deatht he past year). My wife wants to go to school to teach younger kids as well. Since we both already have bachelor's degrees it will take only 2 years maximum to get the education degrees. I am scared to take this chance because I do get paid pretty well( just under 50k) fresh out of college and I will get two nice raises int he first year and I am not sure if the economy will have any teaching jobs open for me when I graduate. I would work while going to school but teaching programs do not have night school. I feel that I may be also too old to make this change. One benefit I might have is that the Department Head of math, the vice principal, and a teacher of over 18 years in the math department at my old highs chool all said they would put their names on the line to get me a job and that math teachers are always needed. I am sure I would have the balance of time and decent pay again when i get a math teaching job. Where I am from in Illinois , math teachers start out about 45k. I really want to be happy again and enjoy life but also be able to enjoy what I do and provide for my son. By the way we live with my wifes parents. So my bills are cell phone($130/month), car insurance on two cars($150/month), which I would bring down to one car if we went to school, rent ( $250/month), cable t.v. which I cna cancel and a gym membership I can cancel. All other bills are just food and gas and entertainment. Please give me some advice. All I hear all the time is how lucky i am to have a job and that gets really frustrating being how miserable I am. I do not have insurance yet for another month so I can't see a therapist yet either. For the comment about walking in poor people shoes. Since my parents split when I was 14 and mom died at 17 I have lived in my car for months and slept in tents during the summer even while working and going to school full time which makes this decision even tougher now that I actually have money.

Public Comments

1. Holy crap. You are working fifteen hour days. Not worth it. I think a higher education degree is a good option, but are you sure you are not fleeing to school to get out of some responsibility or to avoid growing up? If not, than go for it. But if one of those reasons is true (although you seem responsible and grown up to me) there are plenty of jobs that pay fairly well and have eight or nine hour days. You should look into one of those. Fifteen hours is grueling and just crazy, so even if you have to take a significant pay cut, it is worth the time you can spend with your wife and kids.
2. All that money doesn't mean anything if you are not happy. I want to be a math teacher too. Go for it you are so close its 2 years and it sounds like you have friends in the right places. Nobody ever learned anything by letting their fears hold them back.Qualified math teachers are now and will continue to be in great demand. Do it now or you will regret it. the youth of the nation awaits you, Good Luck
3. When your cell contract expires, live like it's the 80s for a while. My prepaid tracFone emergency cell phone costs $25 up front and $6.67 a month min to maintain, using coupon code and a double minutes phone gives 150 min on a $20 60 min card giving 13.33 cents a minute. Raise deductible on car insurance, query as to how much reduced mileage would save.
4. Oh please u r lucky, walk n a poor person's shoes for a day. Anyway, sometimes it's not always about the money. If u r truly not happy doing what u do, then go 4 it. Look what you've accomplished so far, don't bac out now. And it's time for u to move ur family into ur own home. Good Luck