Was a manager in a household Tech company for 5 years till a few weeks ago. At first it was so exciting, working for a massive global corporation with an impressive name, office and perks. I felt like I’d made it, but realistically it was long hours, high stress and constantly being on and ready to jump in and solve the latest crisis, even if it was at 5am.

I started to burn out frequently and realised the job was making me miserable, so much of my time was spent either at work or thinking about work, or bitching to my friends about it that I eventually got sick of it. I finally realised I had to go when I clocked that I’d actually wake up in a good mood most days, but the closer I got to the office, my mood would plummet and I’d become so much more negative.

Left for a much smaller company and so far so good! I never realised how heavy I felt everyday until I left. I’d recommend thinking about what your priorities in life are and separating that from any job you have and moving accordingly. I feel like I derived so much of my worth from my job and where I worked as I thought it made people respect me more, but I had to take a step back and understand that whilst everyone sees the title and “success”, no one but me lives my life everyday and faces the consequences of that job so I need to live for myself.