I’m relatively young (30), single and work in a very senior role for an international company in the city. The field I work in is specialist and complex. Nothing is black and white, an awful amount of thought and research is required before being able to make decisions and the implications of a wrong decision on my part would be catastrophic for both the company and my career. I have achieved a lot and trained hard for years to get to where I am, but the buck stops with me and I’m in a role where the learning never ends. I leave work most days feeling stressed and mentally exhausted from the responsibility of it all. I used to dream of having the responsibility and salary that I have now, but now I’m living the life I dreamed of I find it absolutely draining and it’s sucking the life out of me. Sometimes I wish I could just leave, take on a role with much less responsibility and accept the massive pay cut which would come with it. Friends and family don’t seem to understand and all appear shocked that anyone would want to give up such a high flying career at my age when I’ve got such a bright future ahead of me. Comments such as “you’ll be bored in a menial job!”, “why would you throw away your career?”, “but we thought you were so ambitious!” Etc.
AIBU? Surely other people have done this and I’d love to know if you regretted it.