Would you rather have someone sugarcoat the news or deliver it to you straight? For this salary survey iteration, I confidently opted for the latter.

We'll just have to see how it goes. When pouring over this year's results, the Claims staff was intrigued, indignant, and yes, disconcerted. The brunt of feedback  echoed a defeated, overwhelmed tone. Reported pay increases? Those were negligible. Accolades from management? Fat chance. What about the customer-claims interaction? Eh, those policyholders are a bunch of whiners.

Even my “very steady pay for humane hours” logic was deflected with seemingly countless (in reality, hundreds) of variations of “scrimpy wages and lack of recognition.” None of us are immune to those Rodney Dangerfield “I get no respect” moments but there is something truly frightening about “I get no break” and “I feel utterly trapped.”

To preface my analysis, which begins on page 22, I am a person who read Nietzsche of her own accord. His stance on meaninglessness seemed kind of “meh” to me. To each his own, or so they say. Now, at the time, I was experiencing burnout and disillusionment at work. For all the over-analyzing and silly diversions, what I needed most was to look at the solution staring me in the face, and to put everything into context.

When taken out of context, an unfortunately timed remark or a random statistic can spell disaster or disastrous thinking at the very least. What you may not infer from the above is that I am an optimist, especially when it comes to our tenacious, often inspiring claims brethren. There is no glossing over the fact that the world—our microcosm particularly—can be a scary place to inhabit. But at the end of the day and despite stagnant pay, emotional outbursts from policyholders, and 60-mph winds, this gig isn't all bad. In fact, I'd say the bumpy ride is well worth it. Trying times have taught us to elevate our game and to take technology risks that we otherwise wouldn't have even entertained. Along the way, we have become stronger and discovered the true meaning of excellence from those who profoundly impact the lives of many.

There are true innovators in our own field, too numerous to mention. The road may not be smooth or even paved in some instances, but we are in this together. Make no mistake: I am not advocating staying at a position or in a career that you loathe. I'm not saying we should be grateful to be here and work, sometimes to the point of exhaustion, for a decent living wage. But I urge you to put it into context. Let's hang in there.