Breathe Free

Comes a time when the place where you currently work turns so suffocating that you will do anything to breathe once again. It would doubtless be wise to start working on your way out until you reach that point of near asphyxiation. But that is easier said than done in current market conditions and if you are of a certain age. The issue of age cuts both ways - you are too young and inexperienced, it is hard to land in a market that is inundated with experienced competitors who are willing to take a pay cut. If you are too experienced, you have a problem too. Teams may see you not fit in because of your age and the vintage of your experience. Generally your options are few and far between. You could get a job if you didn't care about much else besides being gainfully employed but to find the right one at the right time is infinitely more complicated. 

From what I have heard from others who escaped from that feeling of being completely and utterly trapped, it takes upto six months to start breathing freely, to get used to the idea that the nightmare is over and you are now somewhere else. It does not feel entirely real up until then. Reality when it does set in can feel mixed. They start to miss some of the things from the old place. After having put some space and time between them and that company, objectivity increases and the emotional responses fade out. That is a fine time to recalibrate and learn from the past and see if there was anything you might have done differently in hindsight. 

I have been in a few of these phases over the course of my career and I was almost always able to see my part in the process. Generally things took a turn for the worst when I decided no matter what I do things would not change. In reality there rarely a situation so dire that such an assessment is true. There are things that a person could do to instrument change. It might take disproportionate effort but it is possible. People (including me) don't see the point for making that effort at some point - they are too far gone and disenchanted to bother. They are working on sprucing up their resume and narrative, working on earning the right to breathe free.