[Trilby]

Sorry, haven't read every response here but wonder: Shawnee, do you have a doc? A GP or a Psych? Anyway, either one can fill out the papers for Medical Leave of Absence. Perhaps you could get MLA and then decompress enough to figure out what you NEED to do. If you worry about your job while on MLA there still is FMLA to protect you. You sound exactly (though, of course, way more eloquent) like me a few years ago. I was getting paranoid. Very paranoid. It was either ME or the JOB. I know (Lord, do I know) how entangled we get with JOB=ME thinking. ya know what? fuck that. I'd rather be a happy waitress with an English degree than a miserable Rn making lots of money.

FYI--I used to live on 58,000 a year. Now I live on 20,000 a year and I've only sacrificed a BIT. (well, ok. I desperately need a car and things for the house, but, hey, I needed those things when I was making money and never did follow thru with it) YOU CAN DO IT! You really can.