In a lot of ways I'm in a very similar situation to your's. I'm also an accountant with an MBA. But I've always worked in corporate accounting, so I don't know what it would be like to be in a public accounting firm except I've heard it's insane around tax time.

I had a very high paying job as a finance director that I held for 7 years. But I got fired due to missing too many days due to a drinking problem and MH issues. That was in Dec. 06. I took 2007 off completely to concentrate on getting sober and healthy which included a lengthy IP stint.

When I started looking for a job, I knew I couldn't handle the stress of my old job, so I deliberately looked for a more junior position. I'm now the only accountant in a small company, so I do everything from AR/AP, to payroll to financial reporting. I'm massively overqualified for the job, I'm bored out of my mind 80% of the time, and there are weeks when I don't have enough to do. I also had to take a huge paycut which has meant major lifestyle adjustments. But the company offers me great flex time so I'm able to take 2 1/2 days off a week to attend addiction treatment. And there's almost no overtime. I've had to come into work on the weekend twice so far this year, once during the audit, and once during a software upgrade where everyone in finance & IT had to work to roll out a new software upgrade. I've now been in this job 2 years.

I'm still struggling with maintaining sobriety and know I don't have the emotional / mental energy to put into job hunting right now. So I'm hoping to stay in this job until next summer and concentrate on maintaining my sobriety and building my confidence back up.

Could you stay in this job, and view it as a short period where you're getting your health back in order before moving into a higher stress job?

Or could you stay in your current job and start your own business doing books / taxes on the side in evenings and weekends. That would give you a taste for what running your own business is like while still having the security of a paycheck.

Don't look at where you are now as a permanent set back. Try to look at it as a chance to get healthy.

Take care.

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