[p0d]

I told my employer I planned to leave 3 years ago and they were kind enough to let me go part-time. I have a sideline which pays the bills the other two days of the week.

Two thoughts. When you are in a dark place sometimes things are darker than they seem. Is part time an option?

The truth is it’s hard making your own money. I was all set for downing tools but retrospectively this would have been hard financially.

I can also see now some of my stress was expectations I put on myself. If you are more stressed as an employee than your employer there’s something wrong in my book. You sound like a high output person. I now have an attitude of, “you want to pay me for doing stupid things, go ahead”. I chose my battles and don’t get so wound up as much about other’s decisions. Having my own side business helps in this regard as well.

Finally, my stress was stressing my wife. Looking back she had stomach problems which mapped to my unhappiness. A great help for me was taking an hour after work and not bringing all the aggravation home.

Things will get better for you, the transition may just take a little longer than you hope.