I’m late 20s and had a good career so far, worked hard and was promoted a lot.
Then I had a horrid time in my last role, where I managed a team as a senior manager.
That role was terrible in every possible way, both my management and my direct reports had issues with each other, I was stuck in the middle and essentially made the scapegoat. Constantly tense, walking on eggshells environment, poor culture etc. I tried to power through but totally burnt out. For the first time, I suffered significant work related stress. The issues at work, were very serious and I explored going to an employment tribunal as various employment laws were broken. It was that bad.
I luckily managed to get a new job relatively quickly, I have been in new role for several
months. It is better paid than before too, and my career trajectory hasn’t stagnated as the work is good. But I just feel so different. I constantly feel defensive at work, wanting to put things in writing, frustrated when things are ambiguous (like I need to protect myself in case certain people backtrack later). I no longer feel fulfilled from work, sometimes I chronically overthink conversations after the fact etc. I suppose I lost my confidence and how I feel towards work.
Just wondering if anyone experienced similar, and was able to come out the other side feeling normal again.