The Day You Realise You Cannot Do Corporate Anymore

It does not happen all at once. At first, you convince yourself the frustration is normal. Every job has bad days. Every company has politics. Every boss has flaws. You tell yourself it will get better. You tell yourself to stick it out.

But then one day, something shifts. A meeting, a comment, a decision so absurd that it jolts you awake. And suddenly you know: you cannot do corporate anymore.

The Thousand Cuts

It is never just one thing. It is the promotion promise that never came. It is the pointless performance review where your hard work was reduced to vague feedback. It is the pizza party offered in place of a raise. It is the parade of clowns in leadership who measure success in Jira tickets and slideshows instead of real progress.

Individually, you can shrug them off. Together, they add up. And one day you realise you are not tired from the work. You are tired from the nonsense wrapped around it.

The Meeting That Breaks You

For me, it was a meeting. I had spent weeks fixing a critical issue that should never have existed in the first place. Hours of overtime. Sleepless nights. No thanks, no recognition, but at least the system worked.

And then in the meeting, some clueless manager used my work as their bragging point. They did not mention my name. They did not mention the team. They just called it “a great leadership win.” Everyone clapped.

That was it. That was the moment I realised I could not do this anymore. Not because of the work – I love the work – but because of the circus around it.

The Pretend Game

Corporate life is not about talent. It is about pretending. Pretending every new initiative is exciting. Pretending every bad boss is inspiring. Pretending pizza is culture and KPIs are progress.

The people who rise are not the best. They are the ones who clap the loudest, play the game best, and make their bosses smile. And if you refuse to play along? You get sidelined. Forgotten. Pushed out.

The Loss of Self

The worst part is how it wears you down. Slowly, you stop caring. You stop speaking up. You stop fighting for better because you know nobody wants to hear it. And in that silence, you lose the very thing that made you valuable in the first place – your honesty, your curiosity, your willingness to challenge nonsense.

That is when you realise corporate is not just frustrating. It is toxic to you.

The Moral

There comes a day when the illusion breaks. When you realise the problem is not just your boss, or your team, or your company. The problem is the entire machine. A system designed to reward obedience, not competence. A system that burns out the best and promotes the worst.

And when that day comes, you only have two choices. Keep playing the game until it hollows you out, or walk away and build something better for yourself.

Corporate will not change. But you can.