I've had this problem too. It really does help to find other interests outside work - running or yoga, bowling, poker, video games, art, family time, whatever it is. For me, it was hard to feel okay doing something else. For some reason, I felt like I should always be thinking about work. But that's just not true - having a multi-faceted identity makes everything better.
It also has helped my mental toughness - if I have a bad day (or week, month, year) at work, I still have other things to fall back on, things that bring me joy and help define who I am as a person. Before, if something went wrong at work, it crushed me. Now I have more perspective, and work issues don't have as much weight as they used to.
Only took me a few decades to figure it out! Hope yours works out more quickly.
Ditto - I prefer a flexible and generous actual paid time off policy over unlimited PTO. One big benefit to a defined policy is accruing time off you'll be paid out for if you leave. That can be a non-insignificant amount of money for some people.
Many of the most successful people I know acknowledge and celebrate their failures as the learning experiences they are. They believe that if you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough, and every single failure is an opportunity to do something better next time. I love this attitude.
I suspect that most people who do this also don't see "success" as a finite achievement - a thing to be reached, celebrated and completed. Success is a constantly moving target, and requires overcoming many small failures.
Regular exercise and getting enough sleep are both really great (for lots of reasons, but definitely a boost to your immune system). And of course nutrition is important, and it's show to be helpful even if you only make small changes. Ditto on the healing powers of vitamin D - especially when it comes from the sun.
Thank you for the update, and serious kudos for doing what you did. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to talk to someone at work, but you did it. Thinking of you and sending you good thoughts as you get through this.
It also has helped my mental toughness - if I have a bad day (or week, month, year) at work, I still have other things to fall back on, things that bring me joy and help define who I am as a person. Before, if something went wrong at work, it crushed me. Now I have more perspective, and work issues don't have as much weight as they used to.
Only took me a few decades to figure it out! Hope yours works out more quickly.