Staying loyal and staying stuck can feel the same from the inside. Check which one you’re doing.

Staying is the same action in both cases, which is what makes them so hard to tell apart from inside. The difference is what the staying is for: one is a choice you would make again with clear eyes, the other is a choice you stopped making and now simply live inside. Habit, fear and time already spent are all very good at impersonating commitment.

Ask whether you would begin this today, knowing everything you know now. A no does not oblige you to leave tomorrow. It does mean the decision is yours to make rather than to keep avoiding.