Has anyone made a career change as part of their recovery? My job is very stressful and it can be triggering sometimes.

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No, I thought about it seriously but with the help of my sponsor I changed the way I approach my career. Not everything is I problem I need to solve, I can ask for help, there are only so many hours in the day, I communicate honestly. If others have a problem with me behaving reasonably, albeit in a high stress environment, then maybe they should get a program.

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I did. I was a management consultant who was on the road nearly every single week. I got to the point where I was like, “I can either be a recovering alcoholic, a grieving son (I lost my dad a year prior), or a successful consultant, but not all three at the same time”. And I knew I’d either smash my laptop over the client’s head or take a drink or have a mental breakdown (or all three!). I ended up getting a more regular type job and it was the right decision for me.

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OP I had to make a career change it was the best thing I ever did because my job was so high stress and the stres was the thing that caused me to drink. I had to take a bit of a pay cut but I was glad that I did.

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Perhaps I wasn't as strong as I should've been, but I know myself and what had to be done. I fell into substance abuse to escape the pressures associated with my previous role in investments. I struggled and overcame and thought that somehow those pressures had magically disappeared. It wasn't long after my recovery and return that I realized it was the same job with the same conditions. The main difference was that I knew how the story would end. I asked my manager to demote me to this position where I can use my finance industry skills in a lower-stress environment. I have made some budgetary adjustments, but I am much happier and secure.

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This is an important conversation, I feel, because work can be very triggering and enormously stressful, which creates the conditions that lead many to want to return to past habits. But I really love what Director shared - we can see our careers differently and learn to take some pressure off of ourselves. If we work for awful, toxic managers, I think that might be one situation where a career change could be in order because you can't fix those people, yet they can still really impact your mental health.

Activel applying the serenity prayer works wonders in these situations.

On a more positive note, though kind of the opposite of your question, getting sober allowed me to begin to have a sense of true self-worth and calmness, which then manifested a new and notable position at a Fortune 5 company.

I did want to make a change just to feel like I was starting over somewhere else, but stress didn’t really play a role in it. I think if your quality of life is suffering due to work, it may be time to look into other areas just for that reason. There will always be stress somewhere, but I’m always for changing what you can if you can.

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Pause. Breathe. Proceed.
⏸ 🌬 ▶️

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