Golden Handcuffs

By Emily - Mindful Career Journey

You have a great job……it pays well, offers solid benefits, and provides for your family. On paper, it’s everything you’ve worked for.

So why does it feel... empty?

When you try to talk about it, your family and friends don’t understand.  They say, “You should be grateful.”  So, you start questioning yourself.  Maybe they’re right. Maybe you are overthinking it.

But deep down, you know something is off.  Your intuition (a.k.a. Inner compass) is telling you so.  

Still, you push through. Another project, another quarter, another year. And just when you consider making a change, it’s as if the corporate gods are listening—dangling a promotion, a raise, or an offer too good to refuse.

More prestige. More money. That should make you happy, right?

This is the golden handcuffs concept , which is the invisible trap that keeps high performers locked into careers that no longer fulfill them. The longer you stay, the harder it becomes to leave. The weight of staying stuck builds stress, and over time, that stress turns into burnout.

And before you know it, another year has passed, and you’re still in the same place, feeling the same emptiness.

Sound familiar?

Have you ever felt this way?