It happened to me five years ago. I knew it was coming. Everyone around me was far more upset than I.

Three months later, a friend invited me and a few more of the recently-unemployed to a happy hour. It was a networking event. He had also invited recruiters and hiring managers -- all of them strangers. As I entered the room, I felt this stale, nasty, jagged energy coming off of everyone around me. It was as though I could smell fear.

Yes, it was that work smell. I had lived with that every day of the past 20 years. The previous three months had given me time to decompress and come up for air.

I left the event early. I knew I could never go back to that world. I knew I couldn't tolerate that work smell again, once I had left it behind.

Wherever you end up, it will almost assuredly be better. It might not have the same money or perks, but it will be better.

And hopefully, it won't have that work smell.