How do I cope with feeling trapped in a pharmacy job I no longer love?

Decades in, and the profession you loved got hollowed out by corporate targets and metrics. Now the salary that should feel like a reward feels like a cage. That is a bitter place to stand, giving your life to something that stopped loving you back, and feeling too far in to leave. The trap is real, but it is not as locked as it feels. The salary feels like a cage because you are measuring only what you would lose. Try measuring the other side too: what the years are costing you, in health, in spirit, in the person you are becoming. A good salary you dread earning is not as safe as it looks. That does not mean quit tomorrow. It means the door is not actually welded shut. Start small and quiet. Look at what a smaller step could give back, fewer hours, a different setting, a role that uses your experience. Even just running the numbers on a change loosens the trap's grip. You spent decades earning options. Let yourself see that you have some.