To want to jump ship on corporate shit?

[Isthisbatshitcrazyorthebestmoveiwillevermake]

I am a wage slave. It’s a new role and I don’t feel the love and I’m fairly sure that’s both ways.
anyone else jumped off the rat race and gone down a different path? I need to work for finances and my own sanity, but I can’t keep this up much longer.
please be kind. I genuinely want to have a balance. I miss my kids.

@Isthisbatshitcrazyorthebestmoveiwillevermake different personalities suit different scenarios. Some people can’t survivor out of corporate because that’s all they know. Others are entrepreneurial and would hate a corporate scenario. Who are you? What’s your ideal?

I’m currently working on my side gig to eventually leave my corporate role. You just need to have a solid five year plan. Do it!

I hate it too but I've been doing it 25 years, so only another 18 years to go. I look at shelf stackers and day dream. Just not about the NMW, so I carry on.

The best thing to happen to me was being made redundant from my corporate role - 50 hrs + (min) per week was killing me mentally.
took a couple of years out SE then decided I needed a bit of human interaction so took up a part time position in a minor way of of my original role. I get the best of both worlds - far less stress, some time working with people and some time working on my own.
yes, I earn a 1/3 of what I did before for my paid employment but I have at least that less stress

But my corporate job helped me completely pay for my home so I can manage on the smaller wages - mortgage paid off and savings thanks to redundancy

What's the likelihood of redundancy in the future?

I work in the corporate world and everyone that ones redundancy tries to move to the next department that will be reduced due to technology and automation.

Is that an option? Position yourself to leave with a payout if at all possible.

I can’t wait until I don’t have to deal with all the other people in the office. I’m friendly, but I don’t want to be their friend. I don’t want to do team building activities and be best buddies with these people. I hate pretending to have to like these people when I really wish they would just shut up. The ‘bubbly’ people are beyond irritating. At least they’ve finally stopped asking me to go for drinks with them. I went once to be nice (I don’t even drink) and I hated every second of it. Bailed after thirty minutes.

Yes, but what's the alternative given that bills still need to be paid?

Thanks to everyone for your advice. For context, I was in corporate then I set up on my own. Then on a whim I applied for a big job, got it and I am dying a little every day. Nothing I do is right, I’m being micro managed and I miss my old life so much. I am so fucking unhappy. I feel sick every time I think of work.
yes, we have bills to pay but I can’t live like this.
i had always wanted to be a teacher but ended up in this life instead. I am thinking of teacher training. I have young teens who I adore and I would like to be around more for. Money is not worth this job.

Ha - as I was reading your OP I was thinking to myself ‘well, if you think other areas of work such as public sector, like me as a teacher, don’t have the same old shit, you’re mistaken’ 🤣

I should add though - I do love being a teacher. I am lucky to be in a great school, with great staff and kids. But for it to work for you, you really have to be built for the job. It’s too hard if you’re not naturally a fit for it

I left corporate and went into the public sector. I'm not a teacher. There's no money, everything takes forever to implement, there are a lot of idiot people who seem to do nothing but turn oxygen into carbon dioxide...but I really do love my job and even my organisation (sometimes). No two days are the same, my job is properly meaningful and I make people's lives a tiny bit better. It works for me.

I have a lot of friends who are teachers and I know how hard a job it is. However, without exception they say the positives outweigh the negatives. I don’t feel that anything I do has a positive affect on anything other than the bottom line.

Could you go back to your own business again? If you are thinking of teaching - and it is both fab and awful simultaneously - then perhaps take some holiday and go and shadow in a secondary school for a couple of days. Get the right school, and you do have a bit more autonomy. Get the wrong school and it is grim.

I have learned how to disconnect from work and stop caring about it. I still produce good work but that’s where it ends. I don’t go any extra miles, I’m not getting involved with the people, I’m quietly getting shit done and keeping my head down. My manager is awful but she generally gives such little fks about us that she leaves us alone.

I work in learning design for state government. Everything moves very slowly and that’s great cos I give no fks anymore and I have a lot of downtime. Just stop caring about work, then it’s tolerable, apart from the people.

Quite enjoy being a corporate drone. I am happy in the knowledge that none of it really matters. My meaning comes from my life outside work which does involve a lot of charity work.