by J.D.G.

Created on: May 20, 2009   Last Updated: April 02, 2011

"I hate my job!" That's how I began every morning.
Every night, I went to sleep dreading the next workday. 

Quite simply, I hated my job, and desperately needed a new one to stay sane.

My job was filled with coworkers who abused the system, dumping their work on me in the process.  There was my supervisor who brought her personal problems to work with her - she always came in at least 2 hours late, and left 2 hours early.  There was my second supervisor who had constant expectations that I would work 12 hour days (while getting paid for only 8). Then there was my friendly coworker who I liked on a personal level, but hated to work with on a daily basis because of his laziness.

Every day I was met with new frustrations, and I was starting to get depressed.  It was time for change. I had become too comfortable with a bad situation just because it was safe and familiar.

Here are the 5 major signs that alerted me to the fact that I needed to get away from my bad work environment :

1) I dreaded Monday mornings.
I know what you are thinking - no one likes Mondays. The problem is, when you hate your job, the dislike is more intense. I started to get a bit uneasy on Saturday, and by Sunday afternoon I felt nervous, tense, and extremely unhappy. I felt like crying and most of the time I went to bed with my stomach in knots in anticipation of the next day. It was a sense of dread that troubled my sleep and made me a nervous wreck while I was awake.

2) I was a shell of my former self.
The person I had been prior to taking the job was a distant memory. Growing up, I had always been the optimistic, enthusiastic person who was never afraid of a challenge. The complete opposite of who I had become during the course of working at my job. Most of the time I felt like a zombie - like my spirit and zest for life had been put to sleep, and I was merely going through the motions of living every day.

I also lost any self-esteem and confidence that I had prior to starting my old job. I felt as though I couldn't accomplish much of anything, and was constantly beating myself up over mistakes that only I would notice. My self-esteem had plummeted to an all time low, and I found myself avoiding even fun activities for fear of being judged or criticized. Interestingly, weeks after leaving my old job, I felt my old personality resurfacing!

3) I resented people with free time.
I remember driving to work in the morning, envious of every jogger or cyclist I passed along the

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