Why I'm scared to leave my job

When Tuesday feels like Friday, and Sunday night feels like it did when you were at school, you know you are in the wrong job.

I'd love to stop what I'm doing and go and do something else but I'm very afraid that I will be stuck in the same job for ever. It's a bit like being in an abusive relationship. You keep reminding yourself of all the good reasons for staying, and you almost believe it. You try to imagine a different life, and it becomes harder and harder as time goes by. You do nothing for years, and then one day something snaps...


Actually, I think it can be easier to walk away from a relationship than from a job.

I knew people, in the 1970s, who went to great lengths to avoid being employed. This mainly involved signing on as something for which there were unlikely to be vacancies, such as 'poet'. Yes, this actually worked once.

I know no-one, now, who isn't terrified of unemployment.

I was pretty down recently about my work situation, so I thought I'd go on the internet for a bit of chat and cheering up. I came across two things that did the opposite.

If I go sick with work-related stress, I could end up at the mercy of the benefits bullies.

And the Tories think they can improve society by grinding the faces of the poor fear and discipline.

Frying pan/fire? Devil/deep blue sea? 2011/1980s?