Dear Prudence,
My husband has always had high-pressure, long hours, and steep salary types of jobs. Since before we were married three years ago, he has talked about shifting careers. He has even taken a couple sabbaticals to try and figure it out, but never came up with anything. So I was thrilled when six months ago, he left his corporate job to work in-house for a charity (which to be fair was still quite highly paid). I make a decent salary, but he has always been the higher earner. The new job quickly went tits up, frankly. It was totally different to what he expected, the hours were still really long, and he had the added pressure of leading a department, which was new. He started having serious anxiety and panic attacks, and has been on sick leave for the last couple months.
Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to have a lasting issue and has recovered well. He’s due to return to work soon, but he doesn’t think he wants to go back. Now we’re back in the position where he’s constantly talking about ANOTHER career shift. He might go into restaurants, or teaching, or politics (?!) . I love my husband, and I want to support him, and I especially want him to protect his mental health, but I am exhausted from having this conversation over and over again. I just want to tell him to suck it up and get a job! He deserves this time off, but it can’t go on forever.
What should I do?
— Work Weary Wife