It’s just a job. Fate will take you to a better place. Allow yourself to be upset for a while but move on. It’s like a bad relationship. You are looking back with rose colored glasses and forgetting why you left in the first place.

Oh Tim, I’m sorry that your job has left you gasping for air. Is there any way you can take a short break from it. A long vacation. A short sabbatical. Any way to unwind until you can walk away from it?

Congratulations! How’s it going since you left?

I just left mine, couldn’t take the toxic environment anymore. I felt like my health was affected and since I waited millions of years to exist, and only get a few decades worth of life…might as well enjoy it. Take care of your family of course. Minimize some superfluous stuff and relax a bit, enjoy the roses before you’re pushing them up. Good luck sir.

Thank you for your comment. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to it. It took me years, oh too many years to get over the opportunity cost of leaving my high paying job. I blame that on my view of myself as a software engineer. I wrapped myself up in my title. In my profession and in the compensation I received for doing a damn good job. Now, I don’t care about such things. I don’t care about my career anymore. It was something I did, but it doesn’t represent who I am. Are you trying to figure out who you are without your job? I struggled with that for a very long time. Now, I know who I am and I like who I see when I look in the mirror. If you want to return to work keep in contact with your old coworkers. Go out to lunch with them, send them emails from time to time to check in. It also helps to find a part time consulting position if you have the bandwidth. Do you want to return to your old job or a completely new profession? Now is a good time to ask yourself those questions and start training if you want to pivot after your kids start school.

Thank you for your comment. It may help to run your numbers one more time. What can you cut back on? How long can you live on the money you’ve already saved? What about paying for medical insurance and other high-cost items in retirement. Pull out your spreadsheets and review your figures. Sometimes we can find courage in the data. If you are nervous I would try this before making the decision to quit. Ultimately, you don’t have to live by the rules of your family members, but it may help to show them why this isn’t a risky plan!