I was doing the daily grind, working under unreasonable artificial deadlines, given projects with no clear objectives, berated for things I didn't do. But I was used to that.
Then I had a health emergency that resulted in 2 hospital stays and a month on short term disability when work legally was not allowed to contact me.
The hospital time (and the really good drugs I was on) and the enforced time away from work woke me up to just how bad things were. I was still part of the group text chats on our personal phones and was seeing the situations in a new way.
That's when I realized just how much employers take advantage of slow changes to make them the new normal. That's also when I realized I was done playing that stupid game. I have no doubt my attitude put me on the list to be laid off later that year. I was quite happy to be on that list.
The moral of this story is that when you can truly escape your job for even a few weeks your whole attitude can change.