Resigning today. . . Why am I in turmoil?

[Wiselass]

I'm currently heading into work to quit from a public sector job I've done for almost 20 years.

The new job I've been offered will just about double my salary, put me straight in at a senior level and actually see the potential in me. But it's a whole new private sector industry so I'll be starting from scratch.

So why do I feel so ill at the thought of leaving. . . The impostor syndrome is real!!

I'm so unhappy in my current job and have been for years but I still feel a loyalty to it. I've been there since I was 18 and it's all I've ever really known.

Please tell me this will pass. . . .

Because you’re institutionalised. You've done your time.

20 years PS pension is good to have in the bag at 38 too.

Enjoy your new job. Life is an adventure.

This will pass! Congratulations on your new job.

It will pass. And if if doesn't you will cope and there are options.

Time for a change!

Thank you all for the kind words. You're all absolutely right, and I think being 'institutionalised' really hits the nail on the head. That's exactly what it is. I've been passed over for promotion opportunities time and time again and left feeling like a nervous wreck most days going into work. I deserve better than this. Just totally terrified at the same time. . .

Thanks again though all, you've really helped calm the nervousness coursing through my veins!!

I did the same after 26 years. In a months time you’ll be saying it’s the best thing you ever did.

@Wiselass

Good luck! I recognise Imposter Syndrome - I felt it for many years whilst, from my reward package and appraisals, etc I was doing a great job. Exhausting isn't it?

It sounds like the new employer already recognises your value and, as a PP said, you've got 20 years of Civil Service pension behind you at a young age. 🌹

OP I can really empathise. I felt exactly they same when I resigned from my PS job after 23 years. Despite having wanted to leave most of the time I was there, resigning felt like throwing myself off a tall building. I was really, really churned up about it. A bit like leaving a (dysfunctional)family.

Anyway, almost as soon as I had done it I felt enormously relieved and now I wonder what kept me there for so many years. Almost like people who leave abusive marriages.

My new job is great and yours will be too. I am sure you will thrive! Expect a short period of roller coaster emotions followed by a calm certainty you have done the right thing. It absolutely is the consequence of institutionalisation.