I was so burned out at my job that I quit and swapped my salary for student loan debt. Some didn’t support my decision.

In 2019, I decisively walked into my boss’s office and announced my resignation.

“Was it something we did?” my manager asked me.

I assured him it had nothing to do with the company that made me want to resign from my lucrative marketing job. In fact, I was giving up my annual salary to go back to school in a pivotal career change and pay thousands of dollars in tuition instead.

In a way, this was the climactic end to what I refer to as my “existential crisis.” After working in marketing for nearly 10 years, I felt emotionally drained, burned out, and dissatisfied.

It wasn’t because of the workplace, the corporate culture, or my colleagues. In fact, I loved the people I’d been working with and developed meaningful friendships with them. However, after a decade in the field, I no longer wanted to sit behind a desk and produce content for 40 hours a week.

I spent months exploring the root cause of my burnout

After speaking with Lynn Berger, a career coach based in New York City, I learned it’s essential to explore what’s contributing to your job unhappiness first. After all, to completely upend your career is a big commitment.

Just like any “existential crisis,” the months before my resignation involved a lot of soul-searching, reflection, and personal exploration to uncover the root of my burnout. I consulted with my therapist and discussed the issue at length with my family and friends.

I experimented by taking steps to improve my workdays: I started taking more walks, stopped eating lunch at my desk, and socialized more with my colleagues.

These things helped make it a little more bearable, but they didn’t eradicate my chronic burnout.

I then had to figure out what was next for me

I tried to make staying in my field last as long as possible. I feared having to make a bigger change, like switching fields entirely. But it was time to be honest with myself: This was chronic burnout, and taking a mental health day or a weeklong staycation wasn’t the antidote.

As Berger told me, “If feelings of burnout persist over a period of time, it might be time to consider a career change if the source of stress is your job.”

When I finally decided to switch fields, I felt optimistic that I was taking action. But it was a difficult process. I had to suddenly answer two questions: What do I want to do now, and what would make me happy?

Career coaches like Berger will tell you about the importance of taking a career personality test like Myers-Briggs to help identify your values and what’s important to you in a job. For me, it’s collaborating with others, making a difference in other people’s lives, and work-life balance.

From there, I made a list of fields that align with my values. I contemplated jobs in psychology, social work, career counselling, teaching, and higher education.

Eventually, I settled on higher education and, in June, I applied for a master’s degree program in education at the University of Toronto. When I got accepted to the program the following month, that sealed the deal, leading to my resignation from the tech company.

Second-guessing myself became part of the process

It can be easy to doubt your decision when making a drastic change, says Berger.

“There can and will be times one experiences self-doubt and one needs to constantly remind themselves why they are making the change,” she told me.

In my case, it was hard to be back in a classroom for the first time in nearly 10 years. There were times when I questioned my value, faced imposter syndrome, and became overwhelmed with the demands of being a student again.

I also had to deal with the financial stress of swapping my five-figure salary for student debt. It didn’t help that when I first told my parents about my desire to return to school, they weren’t enthusiastic about it. Eventually, they came around.

One of my biggest supporters was my now-ex. At the time, she told me that just because something is overwhelming doesn’t mean it’s bad.

My ex proved to be right. As stressful as it was to be a student again, after completing my master’s at the University of Toronto, I started a spiffy new career in student services, accessibility, and career counseling, focusing on helping people with disabilities.

Now, I’m happy about my career trajectory, possibly for the first time in my life.

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