It sounds like you're in an environment that expects progress and creates a culture of "up or out". This isn't rare, and that situational awareness is a part of

It sounds like you're in an environment that expects progress and creates a culture of "up or out". This isn't rare, and that situational awareness is a part of your information gathering to work out a response. If this is truly the case, and staying in that role would be discomforting socially and professionally, then that's a useful framing. You can decide to use the appropriate time in that role to work out: - what's the next move (up or out) - what value can be gained with the time remaining (it's now a mission!) - what are the potential moves if one takes their career in their own hands versus the org's preference for progress I've been in exactly this situation. I got some "lucky" bumps up the corporate ladder early in my corporate career, which had the unintended consequence of maintaining that momentum and corporate expectation, while being fast tracked into this kinds of "leapfrog" roles. The punchline is I chose to leave that industry and join another (a certain major open source software company), taking an enormous pay cut and lifestyle change. Which unlocked not only a lot of happy productivity doing good and meaningful work, but gave me the freedom to ultimately start my own company and have a larger impact... with a LOT less corporate performance art. The "up or out" process isn't a bad thing. It's just a thing. How you choose to use or interact with it is discomforting, scary, and challenging, but ultimately is just another thing you have total agency over. Good luck, this sounds like a great life transition wrapped in the appearance of a socially awkward obstacle. You'll do great.