You Want to Quit but Keep Enduring It — Write It Out and Sort the Feeling

"I want to quit." You think it over and over. Yet every morning you change into your usual clothes and head to the office. For the money, so as not to burden the people around you — you tell yourself this and endure it again today. Working on while carrying the wish to quit quietly wears the heart down.

What hurts is that the wish to quit and the reality of not being able to keep pulling against each other in your head. This article shows how to write out the endurance you've bottled up, untangle it, and get closer to your own answer while protecting your body and mind.

Why you keep enduring even though you want to quit

Behind the endurance there are usually reasons not to quit: stable income, familiar work, a sense of responsibility that won't let you walk away, the fear of whether you'll find something next. These are important, but while they stay in your head they feel larger than they are.

On top of that, the more conscientious you are, the more you treat enduring itself as the right thing — "everyone else puts up with it," "I'm just being soft." As a result, even as you near your limit, you lose the ability to hit the brakes and tell yourself, "I can still take more."

Notice the signs that your endurance is near its limit

Because endurance is invisible, its limit is hard to see too. That is exactly why you should use signals from your body as clues. Not sleeping, not being able to get up, not recovering even on days off, tearing up at odd moments, a disrupted appetite or health — if these changes keep going, your heart is already carrying a heavy load.

Instead of writing it off as "just a matter of mindset," jot down your daily state in a short note. The wear you struggle to notice yourself takes shape and becomes visible. The amount you're enduring is measured more accurately by records than by your head.

Write out what you're enduring and separate it

As long as you feel it all lumped together as "I want to quit," there's no way to respond. So try writing out everything you're currently putting up with, as it comes to you. The work itself, relationships, hours, evaluation, anxiety about the future — once you've written them, mark each as "this won't resolve unless I quit" or "this might change with a transfer or a conversation."

You may then notice that the true source isn't "the company itself" but only a specific person or your current way of working. Once you see what you truly want to let go of, moves you can make before deciding to quit or stay come into view too.

Before deciding to quit or stay, protect your body and mind

Even after sorting this much, a conclusion won't always come right away. That's fine. The one thing to prioritize is your health. If the strain continues, choose to rest and lean on a medical professional or a support line before enduring any further.

The decision can wait until you've recovered a little. Writing your honest feelings out in a place no one else sees, emptying your head, is a small step that helps that recovery. There's no need to wrap it up positively. "I'm at my limit." "But I'm scared." As you let it out, contradictions and all, what you truly want gradually takes shape.

Related: You Want to Quit but Can't Say It — Write the Truth Out and Clear Your Head