Talk To Me: I want to leave my dead-end job but retraining is not an option 

Psychologist Caroline Martin is here to answer your questions on whatever issues you are dealing with in life, from work pressure and stress to loneliness and grief

I dread the thought of going to work almost every day.

I'm in a dead-end job with no prospects of promotion. I want to get out, but I’d probably need to retrain. My wife works part-time, and we have a two-year-old child and a mortgage, so time out to learn new skills is not an option. I have a happy home life, but I dread the thought of going to work almost every day.

Feeling stuck can be deeply uncomfortable, creating a fear that we will never escape this sense of ‘stuckness’. A survival instinct may kick in and you may lash out or recoil and try to hide in a shrunken world.