So, when I (24M) was 19 I was lucky enough to start a job in what is essentially THE top workplace in the industry that I work in, while I was still studying my degree.
I worked there for 3.5 years before everything got to me: the workplace culture, the understaffing, the hours and hours of unpaid overtime, the low quality work that was being churned out because nobody wants to invest the money and hours it takes to do what we do to a high standard. I was at my breaking point when I got an opportunity to move departments to my dream role. Not only that, but they offered me a permanent full time position.
At first it was amazing. But it's been 18 months now and it's clear all the same issues are still there. I find myself constantly frustrated and defeated. I don't believe in the work that I do anymore. I wake up depressed. I struggle through the day. I get home depressed. If I work the hours I need to to get everything done, I have no time to keep on top of laundry or grocery shopping. If I try to set boundaries around over-working, I just end up getting so behind in tasks that everything falls apart.
This line of work is my passion. When the stars align and the clouds clear for a moment and I have a "good" day at work, the feeling resonates all through me and reminds me why I genuinely care about what I do. I feel so lucky to have the job that I have when so many deserving people I know would kill for the opportunity I have been given, especially being so young comparatively. Getting a full time permanent role that pays well is extremely rare and if I walked away, there's no guarantee I'd find another one. For that and many other reasons, I've tried so hard to hold on and try to find a way to make the job work for me. At the same time, I just feel like I can't go on hating every day. So many of the people I worked with when I started have quit. I've sought advice from mentors who have 20, 30+ years experience in this field and they all say the same thing: the whole industry is fucked, there's nowhere you can go that's any better.
The advice I hear over and over is to start looking around and not to leave until you have something lined up... but I've been wanting to find something else for more than 2 years now. There's nothing. I feel so stuck.
Do I just try and dig in and push through, hope something changes?
Do I walk away from the industry entirely? Go back to university and start again?
Is it a completely stupid idea to just quit and take 6 months off living on savings to put my full effort into figuring things out?
Has anyone quit a job they thought they were lucky to have and ended up happier?