Don’t let other people drag you down. If you don’t like the job and have the opportunity to find a better one, go for it. You can still hang out with your co-workers outside of work hours.

Disability forced me to see how work is far more to your psychology than just a means of survival or wage slavery. It plays a major role in giving life purpose. For instance, many people without the experience would say that my life, being stuck in bed most of the time would be great. The thing is, other than the pain, without a sense of purpose that a job creates, it is challenging to find and maintain an equivalent sense of purpose on your own. I have to take deep dives into hobbies and subjects to achieve a similar sense of purpose and satisfying accomplishment. I don’t have the means or physical ability to take classes, and I have no social network to speak of at this point.

You have taken a hit to your sense of self and purpose in life. You’re willing and capable of making decisions that are logical over the emotionally easier path of ignoring the logical in favor of the brain chemically addictive decision that has a poor long term benefit for you.

It will take time to find your place elsewhere and develop a sense of fulfilling purpose, but you’ve done this many times before in your life.

Everything is ultimately brain chemistry. Relationships of all kinds can be greatly oversimplified as addictions. It is okay to admit your addictions. It is the first step in recovery, even if those addictions are platonic and employment related. Like all breakups, this too will pass with time. Give yourself the opportunity to heal emotionally too, and recognize your needs for purpose by filling the interm with a fulfilling personal interest like hobbies or reading to bridge the gap.

People rarely leave a job because of their coworkers (they leave managers). People working closely together form strong bonds since they’re all working towards the same goal all the time.

It’d also a handy tool management can use to reduce turnover since employees will often stick around longer than they should have because they felt a sense of loyalty or attachment to their direct team.

It sucks to leave people, but at the end of the day, your coworkers are your coworkers and it’s just business. Even if you like them, it’s exceedingly unlikely you’ll remain friends for long after leaving the job.

My only advice is get used to it. After a couple of times, you start to see a pattern of how you get to know (and un-know) coworkers and it doesn’t sting as bad. The really solid friendships can remain, but most you can really let go.

Having good coworkers is absolutely a reason to stay in a job. You spend a lot of time at work so you want to make sure you’re enjoying that time - friends help with that.

There is no clear rule on when to leave a job, so you need to make that decision yourself (though you should talk it over with people you trust).

That said, if you’ve ever been at a company and seen one senior IC quit and then watched a conga line of other seniors following them out it’s likely that they were putting up with bullshit because they liked their coworkers and, as soon as those folks were no longer their coworkers, they didn’t see any further reason to stay. At a company with low turn over you’ll occasionally just see massive resignation waves - like 80% of a department - because the bullshit finally became too much and caused a domino effect.

I watched corporate gut every department so stock number go up. While I liked everyone I worked with, I just couldn’t stand what our CEO was doing, so I left, and made sure hr knew that my team, and everyone I worked with was great, and that I didn’t agree with the direction corporate was going. I might have implied/said that some of my coworkers needed raises, as well

I have the opposite issue, being my coworkers aside from my boss are very unpleasant. The only reason I stick by them is because I like the job more than the alternatives.

I worked construction for a while. Its long days, lost weekends and hard work. I had a great team and enjoyed the work.

But I also started a family, so after thinking long and hard about it, I told my boss and my team that I’d stay till we finished the project but after that I was done. I wasn’t going to miss my child’s milestones or family time.

It worked for me because I had a great relationship with my bosses and my teammates, I was a huge contributor and always went the extra mile. There was a strong mutual understanding and there no was malice from either side. Half a year later we finished the work ahead of schedule despite client induced delays. We shook hands on my last day and that was it.

I still miss the team but I don’t miss the work-life. We still catch up for drinks every now and then. Life is life, pick your priorities and what makes you happy, don’t look back.