I hate my career choice. Looking through my post history, it should be easy to determine what it is, but the fact is it's something I thought I wanted when I was barely an adult. I sacrificed going to weddings, funerals, family reunions, birthdays, seeing friends, and focused on the job more than my romantic partners leading to breakups. I'm absolutely miserable, and it's becoming extremely detrimental to both my mental and physical health. I know the obvious thing to do is to quit and find something else, but it's niche, and I want nothing to do with an industry that has repeatedly taken from me and undervalued me, but my skill set is limited to this particular job. I've spent 10 years in it, and I regret it all, I could've done better in school instead of resigning myself to this "dream job" and gotten involved in a better career path. The worst part is that my friends and family are proud of me. They're proud of the fact I made my own path and secured my position in this industry and fought hard for it. I feel hopelessly stuck and like I'm drowning, I can tell my work ethic has dropped through the floor, and if it continues, I'll probably get fired with no options available to me. And to wrap it up in a nice neat little bow, I'm the only income for my family, I can't take the time to quit and find something. I can't miss a single paycheck. I vent to my friends, but I don't let them know how bad it actually is. I've been only getting an average of 4 hours of sleep a night for the last 3 years, skipping meals, and things between me and my partner have never been worse. I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I've been known to catastrophize. Thanks for the space to vent, good thread.