UNITED STATES—Work, it’s something many of us do day in and day out. For most Americans, we have dead end jobs that we absolutely hate and dread. We hit the alarm clock, rumble in the sheets before realizing we have to get up, we have to get out of bed and we have to head to work. I mean there is a very small percentage of Americans who actually have jobs where they love going to work each day, most being a direct result of the fact that they probably get a big paycheck, and don’t indulge in strenuous or mind-boggling labor that leaves one overly stressed.

The question of the hour remains: when is it time to leave one job and move onto another? That is a tough question, and I mean the situation varies for each American. One might say the moment I can no longer get out of bed to go to work it’s time to move on. Others might say, when the individual realizes they aren’t getting paid enough, it’s time to move on. Some make the argument that when a person feels they are not being appreciated or the level of work they deliver to their so called company is questioned or not valued. That last one is something that actually strikes a core with me. Money without a doubt matters, and there is no worse feeling then the turmoil one grapples with realizing people that just started with a company are making more money than someone who has been with the company for years.

It’s like a double strike to the ego; not only are you not being paid enough, you’re not valued at the same time. To be honest all three are powerful assertions, and if that is something you’re dealing with, you really need to have a conversation with yourself. Put a list together, looking at the pros and cons of your job, and if the list of cons outweighs the pros, it’s a sign that you might have a tough decision to make in the near future. I know for most Americans, the biggest thing we consider is rather we’ll have enough income to supplement ourselves for several months if we choose to quit our job.

That is something very important to consider, because if you have the money in the bank or your savings it makes the decision to vacate that much easier. However, if one doesn’t have the money put way, they might have to suffer the bullet and continue working a little bit longer until they can find another job as a supplement to that income. That leads to added stress, where one starts to hate their job more as each day passes by.

Hate is a strong emotion, but one that can force people to make decisions they normally would not if they weren’t dealing with it. The more it builds, the more frustrated one becomes and they lash out and say or do things that normally they would not. That raw emotion is a sign to me that your current job is toxic and causing you to spiral in a way that you didn’t expect, not to mention you begin to interact with hostility to people outside the workplace that you normally would not.

The realization has come into my orbit that your instinct is a powerful thing, no matter how much you attempt to fight what your gut tells you, your gut is there for a reason. It’s an intuition and an instinct that you cannot instantly shake, and there is a reason for that: to help you find happiness. We all have passion projects, we all have things that we are good at that for reasons unknown, we never fully pursue and we leave ourselves wondering why, why?

Well change is always in play; the question for many Americans is rather we are willing to take the risk to make a move that we should have made months or years ago. All I can say America is that time is of the essence, and if you’re not fully happy with your place of employment, and you have other options in play take the risk. You have nothing to lose, and plenty to gain. Yes, the notion of climbing the corporate ladder all over again is scary as hell, but you don’t want to be in a situation where you are on this emotional rollercoaster, where you’re grasping at straws to find something, anything that gives you a reason to stay at a place that you know is doing nothing but hurting you in the long run.