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This is branching off from a friend-conversation I was having recently IRL.
When weighing career choices, it seems it often comes down to balancing two big sides to the equation, and they are often in opposition for some reason. On one side -- salary and benefits; on the other side -- everything else. The second category would include quality co-workers, work that you enjoy, a stress-level you're comfortable with, prestige, good fit with your degree/training/interests, physical environment of your workplace, etc. Whenever I consider a job that has a better salary, it always seems to fall very short of Category B stuff. I usually talk myself into applying anyway, and most of my friends think it's loony to consider anything outside of the salary. "So what if you don't like the other things! You can cosole yourself with your fat paycheck" seems to be the prevailing opinion. Or "With that salary, you'll be able to afford to travel to the places you need to refresh yourself." Yeah, for two weeks out of the year. We're in our offices for 40 hours in the week -- it seems important to me that I like where I am while I' there. I've always put a pretty high priority on Category B. My physical surroundings are tied in with my happiness. However, not making enough money is definitely stressful and that's also tied in with one's mental health.
I'm just throwing out some thoughts here. Feel free to tell me what you think. I'm not sure there are right/wrong answers on this one....
I've never looked at a job as anything other than a tool to make me money. That's it. I'm 23 with a puppy, a nice house that I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in, a paid off car, very little debt, great work/life balance, and I'm making enough money that I've got thousands to play with at the end of the month. Hard work, high salary, high stress upfront for a sweet reward that I'll be enjoying for the rest of my life. It's well worth option A to get to option B.
Honestly, I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice by not choosing option A because what about retirement? What about savings? Money is crucial to living a healthy, happy life. Choosing short-term pleasure instead of long-term gain is a losing strategy. Especially when you get older and lack enough money to retire comfortably. Most people don't realize until their 40's that they should have started investing younger. Don't fall into that trap!
I'm not saying choose option A for the rest of your life, but option B comes AFTER you've reached financial stability, not before. Struggling your entire life isn't worth it just to have nice coworkers.