Reddit reviews The Five-Hour Workday: Live Differently, Unlock Productivity, and Find Happiness

My sympathies are with you. I think, though, that this is a pervasive problem in the academic world right now, and it is being swept under the virtual rug, so try not to take it personally (I know--it feels personal, but bear with me).

Even though adjunct abuse has been around forever, my observation is that the money supply (especially in private institutions) is dwindling at a record pace, and for whatever reason, upper level administrators are scrambling to compensate for the lack of foresight that got them where they are.

I recently ended my teaching career at a private university, having retired from a tenured position about ten years ago. I had been teaching two (of four) terms a year, most years, since retirement. It was difficult to give up the privileges of tenure, but I had thought I would teach a few years before filing for Social Security. Then I decided that I would wait until I was eligible for Medicare. The truth was that I loved teaching, and I had been in the comfortable rhythm of academic life for decades.

Imagine my surprise when our department head was abruptly terminated and my subject area was transferred to an administrative department (what? how can they even do that?). Suddenly, my class was seen by the bean counters as a money maker, and the "thinking" was that with the right marketing, students from all over the world would swarm to the campus and their governments would hand over big piles of cash to support the high costs of our campus.

My part-time job thus "was made redundant," a phrase which begs to be used in this context, because the university replaced me (Ph.D., 50 years of teaching experience, still at the top of my game) with two newly minted M.A.'s in their twenties who had no idea how flimflammy the gig was.

I probably would only have taught for one more year, but having my program "disappeared" was shocking, especially since I had won my university's most prestigious teaching award. When it was announced that (my) subject matter, which was now being taught in a new, administratively-based program had never been taught on the campus before, my whole (20+ years at that institution) career was made invisible.

Coincident with this was the demise of the careers of my sister and brother-in-law, who dedicated themselves to a small religious college for decades. That institution, too, is bleeding cash, having tried various schemes for the last two decades to generate revenue.

It was pretty clear last December that whole divisions of that institution were going to disappear. It was fortuitous that my relatives were already planning their retirements, but the choice was taken out of it; unlike me, they could not linger. Their administrators were much nicer to them than mine were to me, but tenured people who had hoped to teach there for the rest of their careers were put on notice that they had one year to "find other situations."

I have been as brief and unemotional here as possible, but I believe that the big picture (especially for small institutions) is glum. I have tried to convince myself that I am the typical old person who has become cynical and doesn't believe that the next generation can handle the task, but it appears that there are no longer any reliable predictors for enrollment or income, especially in institutions that do not generate cash from areas aside from tuition.

So what can you do now? Try your best to evaluate and enumerate the skills that you have gained in the academy; don't convince yourself that you can't find any other satisfying work. Realize that your work ethic, your social skills, and your need to support your family are advantages (not needs) in this culture (because there are a lot of people who have never worked competitively and think that staring into a cell phone counts as communication). Network as much as you can. Trade your FB friends for LinkedIn. If you have tech skills, look for jobs that will allow you to work from home. Read this book, which has changed the lives of many, and start dreaming, Oprah-fashion, about creating your best life : https://www.amazon.com/Five-Hour-Workday-Differently-Productivity-Happiness-ebook/dp/B01FGAFDBO

Your situation is a result of a huge crash that has descended on the academic world (yes, even in some funded lab science fields), and your best bet is to take stock of the many skills you have achieved and find ways to make them work for you.

Let us know if you find answers. Others are either sharing the dark cloud with you already or feel it descending on them. Move toward the light.