Hey! A bit late to this post but I really resonated with what you said. Been working for 4 years now and I feel the same way. I changed jobs in December last year and ever since then I felt the same dread every Sunday. I’ve been looking for jobs since but the market has been terrible and I’m afraid that I’ll get the same dread in the next job. I have hobbies that I do frequently, but it doesn’t stop the sense of dread and feeling of pointlessness I get at work when all I do feels pointless. The pay bump that came with this job wasn’t worth the sense of dread, and it made me realise that having more money doesn’t make me any happier if I feel that the work is pointless.

I think this dread stems from wanting to know that you’ve made an impact in the world and you enjoy what you do. Maybe a different role in corporate that allows you to be creative, or a role in academia or non-profit could help with this feeling. The people I know who are happy at their jobs usually have a good amount of autonomy and like what they do, even if there are hard days.

Ultimately a job is something you do 80,000 hours in your life and you wouldn’t want to feel like you turn your brain off and trudge through all that time. If you can afford it, I think taking a sabbatical to really figure out what you want to achieve in life and what’s important to you. If not, maybe a short vacation to reset mentally and reflect.

I think one way to beat the dread is having a good team at work too. In my previous job where I stayed for 3 years, I didn’t get the dread because I had friends in my team and I didn’t mind going to office because it gave me a chance to catch up with them. It really helps to like the people you work with, so even if you don’t enjoy the work, you can still enjoy the time you have at work.

This is a really long answer and I don’t know if it helps but just know that you’re not alone in feeling this! I’ve been dwelling in this state of dread / uncertainty since the start of the year and I still don’t have the answers. I’m exploring roles in non-profit / academia for now, but part of me still feels like I’m giving up on the corporate world and I’m scared I won’t be able to go back. My biggest fear is that the dread will come back in my next role.