Why does quitting your job still feel so hard?

Even if we are going to a better place, leaving a current job that you have worked hard on can be upsetting. This is because:

1. Our job is tied almost exclusively to our identity.
2. The people that we work with fill most of our lives.
3. Quitting a job has negative connotations, even if it is for a good cause.

• The pandemic caused the great resignation of 2021, a huge spike in people leaving their present jobs.
• The idea that we are in a job for life and the social stigma that people who quit have to experience are both obsolete ways of thinking.
• People without a job are considered less hireable, less warm and less competent compared to those working somewhere.
• Quitting without having a solid plan ahead can be emotionally distressing to people, creating guilt, shame and fear.