The demon with broad shoulders
I have been battling a dark demon for the last five months. It started when I got my new job. I had been working in an organization that I thought was "the one", that had a mission that I loved with all of my heart. It was good work - but that work began to suffocate me. The case load was unmanageable, even for the most obsessive of perfectionists and maximum-drive, perpetually-unhealthy overachievers (not that I'm assigning labels to myself or anything). Furthermore, the work was so emotional - heartfelt and beautiful most of the time, but inexplicably painful at others. No matter what the emotion, there was no time to process it. Add into that a 24/7 on-call rotation, the loss of summers to the busiest work season of the year...it all became too much for me. I found a new job - decent pay, even better benefits, room for potential growth, and most importantly, a healthy separation of work and life. My days became balanced, and my house got (a little) cleaner. I