quitting time
by rantywoman
http://www.forbes.com/2011/01/11/is-it-time-to-quit-your-job-money-leadership-careers-advice.html
On Sunday I got a Facebook message from a friend in Abu Dhabi, asking if I’d written a story about when it’s OK to take a sabbatical from work, “especially when you are in your mid-40s (like me).” This friend, a former journalist, has a high-paying job in corporate communications. But, she wrote, “Desperately want out for six months–but I am terrified I won’t get another job at the end of it. I am curious to know how people who take a half ‘gap’ year at this time of life are viewed.”
It may seem like a strange time to write a story on quitting your job. With unemployment stuck north of 9% and hiring sluggish, why would you walk away from a good salary and benefits? One consequence of the dim hiring picture is that many workers have stayed in jobs they don’t like, fearing they won’t find work if they leave.
In an effort to answer my friend’s question, I checked in with one of my best career sources, Eileen Wolkstein, a longtime coach in New York City. I also interviewed a woman I’ll call Karen, who left her job as a high-powered lawyer at the end of July because she wanted to take time to look for a new position.
The bottom line: It takes courage, planning, soul-searching and financial resources, but it can be totally worth it to resign and take some time for yourself. You will find work again, if you engage in a serious search that involves diligent networking and careful follow-up.
thebitterbabe 
“Courage, planning, soul-searching and financial resources” — Oh, is THAT all? LOL! The law is, if not a dying profession, a profession in the ICU. An avalanche of articles have appeared not just in professional journals, but also in the mainstream press, over the past six months about the upheaval in the legal world. Anybody with a job now is clinging to it for dear life, not jettisoning it or asking for a sabbatical. Believe me, there’s nothing I’d like more than to take off six months for my mental and physical health, but I’d be beside myself with anxiety the entire time about what, if anything, was awaiting me on the other end. (Because one thing that almost definitely wouldn’t be waiting would be another decent job.)
In line with your comment:
The economic landscape had changed greatly since these women — buoyed by their prestigious jobs and degrees, supported by their high-earning husbands, secure in their abilities to shape a new life worthy of their past successes — first decided to leave work and head home. In the years they were out of the work force, many of the professions they left contracted and changed; even once rock-solid fields like law were becoming insecure in ways that no one had previously thought possible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/11/magazine/the-opt-out-generation-wants-back-in.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&pagewanted=print
Yes; great article.
Not sure where MissBates is located but I’m presuming the US? I’m not sure that the UK legal scene is necessarily any better but since March this year 3 late 30’s/early 40’s women in my office have resigned from professionally qualified legal roles in order to take some time out and maybe do something different. I’m one of them – the only single one to boot. None of we 3 deserters have children interestingly enough so perhaps that makes it easier. Yes I worry that I’ll never find another job as convenient and well paid as my last but I know that emotionally I needed a break and to try building a new life in a different city, focusing on different things than my professional qualifications and independence as they were not giving me the quality of life I wanted or feel I deserve. Yes I feel anxious at times particularly at the not knowing what lies ahead but I’m embracing that and trying to roll with punches rather than agonise about what may or may not be on the horizon. What I do know is that if I never made this decision, then nothing was ever going to change and ultimately that scared me even more.
You sound just like me!