Yesssssssssssssss! If a £50,000 windfall came my way today, I'd hand my notice in tomorrow. My career has its benefits and privileges, but I've been committed to the same line of work for almost 40 years, since I was in my mid-teens and decided what I wanted to do at university, and that is QUITE LONG ENOUGH.
I've done the sums, and unless my workplace becomes politically toxic before then I'm sticking it out till March 2019, at which point I intend to make a clean break. No freelance contracting, no "could you just do ... " or "would you stay on if ... " because I know exactly how that would finish up, and it wouldn't be with a contented me.
But oh, the waiting! Nineteen paychecks to go!
The strategy I'm using is that it's like being in school. I need to stay in school, working my socks off, maintaining good relationships with my tutors and colleagues, and passing all my tests, until March 2019. I'm looking forward to graduating and going out into the big wide world, and once I've graduated it would be absurd to go back to school, even for one lesson a week, but I want to walk out of school with my head held high and leave behind good memories.
And then it's not an end, it's a new beginning. I'll have enough money to live on while I take some time out to kick back after all my hard work and decide what I'm going to do next. I may take to retirement like a duck to water - my parents did. If not, I'll still only be in my fifties. I can go back to work doing something else.
Of course it's not that simple. I've always been defined by my job. I overvalue the work ethic. At home, I've always been, above all, a reliable breadwinner. That's all going to come to an end. But it's one vital cog in the engine.