Can changing your job really change your stress level significantly?

[Probablyshouldntsay]

I’ve been working in the same team for 5 years now, two promotions along the way. The last year has seen the workload become unbearable, manager is nice but hopeless (bit of a fence sitter), constantly working in quite a dangerous way without adequate risk assessments etc, the whole team is either sniping or hopelessly stressed / depressed.

Ive managed to hold it together and spotted a new job in a different department, removed from danger and the time pressures.
New manager seems great, lovely approachable woman and her staff seem cheerful when I’ve crossed paths with them.
Very fortunately I was offered the position and I start in a couple of weeks.

My confidence has taken a massive battering in the past few months and I look visibly older from the strain.
Ive been so stressed that I don’t eat until I’ve calmed down from the days work, and I have horrible jaw pain and headaches from involuntarily clenching my teeth during the day. Have no energy after work for hobbies and exercise that I previously really enjoyed.

Has anyone got any stories of their lives improving after a job switch?
I’m desperately hoping New Job will turn things around for me.

Oh yes 100%. You describe serious failings in your manager and this constantly working in quite a dangerous way without adequate risk assessments etc, the whole team is either sniping or hopelessly stressed / depressed.

In your situation it'd be totally inexplicable not to give a new job a try.

Good luck!!! Now go and start the application

10000% yes. The day I pulled over to be sick pn my way to work was the day I vowed to leave my job. It took me nearly 18 months but I got out - my life is soooo different now and on reflection I really don't know why I allowed myself to be treated like I did.

Go for the new job OP.

Yes from me too!

I left one job because of stress. New job, new management and I felt like a new woman- took a few months though.

Congratulations on the new job!

Any chance you could take a few days off before you start? Just to decompress (and unclench!).

Thank you. I really do feel like the proverbial boiled frog! Gotten on with things to the extent that I can’t believe I’ve kept it going so long. Just bonkers to imagine I’ve been trying to figure out if I have some sort of anxiety disorder when it’s so clear it’s because of the ways we spend our working days.

no time to take unfortunately before I start new job - just the weekend but luckily dc will be with their dad for the weekend so I’ll do my best to some how cleanse myself 😂

Oh yes, definitely!

I left an equally horrific job and my mental and physical health has improved so much! I was completely burnt out and after one particularly horrendous weekend of stress (didn’t even work weekends) followed by a bollocking from my boss for crying in my own private office, I handed in my notice!

I had nothing to go to when I did it but I got another job whilst working my notice and I’ve been gone nearly a year. In that time I’ve lost 3 and a half stone and I joined a gym. I feel fitter, stronger, mentally much better and I have a much better work life balance. I survived 2.5 years in my old job, a year too long for sure!

The irony is I now earn more even though I took a cut in grade because I’m back to working shifts and nights which suits me fine!

Congratulations on getting out op, hopefully you’ll enjoy your new job so much more. A bad work environment is so unhealthy.

Absolutely it can make that much difference OP. When you’re in a job like that, you forget who you were. I had a job that was so stressful I had to pull over to cry on the way home more than one a few years ago. After I left it took a few months for me to relax but it was like someone slowly pulling back a curtain and letting light back in.
Congratulations on your new position - be kind to yourself as you adjust and you’ll be fine!

Definitely! I left a toxic job working with very vulnerable adults to a job that required extensive vetting. I then had a few months between jobs, going into a non public facing role in a really kind supportive team. I did struggle to begin with, with confidence and decision making but still, two years later, I count my lucky stars I landed where I did and I am definitely less stressed!