Best of 2021: The sobering truth about quitting my job: I was addicted to high-stress nonprofit work – By Jackie Lieske (Salon) / December 30, 2021
When I resigned without a backup plan, I didn’t realize 4 million workers had just done the same. I can see why now
This essay was originally published in Salon on September 4, 2021. We’re revisiting Salon’s Best Life Stories of 2021 now through the end of the year. Read more Best of 2021 here.
When I left my job with no backup plan in July, I had no idea I was joining an exodus of more than 4 million Americans who had enough at work. Once I discovered this trend, I devoured articles in search of a rationale for my rash decision.
Stories about this mass departure suggest each of us has our own discrete reasons. For me, the reasons feel like a muddied watercolor, with shades of longing for well-being and autonomy bleeding into a grey malaise and existential dread: What does any of this matter when my loved ones or I could die tomorrow?
Now that I’m free from full-time work, my once-murky canvas reveals a startling image. For years, my work life functioned like an unconscious addiction.
