What do you do when you are locked in the "golden" handcuffs i.e. high paying job

[dposborne]

SO I work in a fairly well paying job for my area and make decent money. The company has a poor organizational structure, the business decisions made often are head scratchers which over the years has resulted in resentment, bitterness, anger.

I get great benefits and I'm 2 years away from 5 weeks of vacation time, I get 4 weeks a year right now, which I consider above the norm.

Does anyone have any experience leaving a job with the golden handcuffs and successfully transitioning with a new company in a new position that you have passion for?

I have a job offer out of state for a completely different career field that I've always been interested in but it has its cons:

1. High Stress
2. Lower Pay about a 20k a year paycut
3. Mandatory OT and crazy hours like 4 days of 12-16 hr days.
4. High Degree of Burnout within the Field

Pros:
Challenging, Non Routine, Each day will bring a different challenge.
Going from Midwest to Southwest would be completely awesome since I could partake in hiking activities around the mountains.

I'm really struggling having to decide on which direction to go in. I do have to make up my mind soon as the academy starts in August.

My question is would you take a risk at an older age vs. the younger you, even if you have no earthly idea if it will even work out when in your current position you are in a gravy job that is super easy and low stress.

Its funny I saw this. I would like to put my two cents in. I recently decided to leave the old company I was with because of the issues I was having which all happen to be the same issues you listed that you are having. I can tell you what I did before I made the move:

I did a lot of research on the companies I was applying to.
When I went on job interviews I made sure to talk to current employees if possible.
I brought my wife with me on my interviews. This way she could experience the new area (while I was interviewing) and I would get full buy in if the opportunity was offered to me. (this was very important since majority of the time the biggest excuse for not changing is your spouse and how they feel about it.
I made sure to negotiate a higher salary, vacation time and even a signing bonus

I have found that the new position is more challenging and it is in a field I enjoy working in (which happens to be the same field I was in) and in a new state that I am more happy in. I found that you don't necessarily have to change fields or professions to be happy, changing companies can make a huge difference in and of itself. So my suggestion to you is try a different company first and negotiate. It can't hurt. Gretzky loved to say that every shot that you don't take will always miss.

PS. Yes I was afraid of something new and a change especially in a new state with a new company, but I knew myself and I knew that I could do just about anything I put my mind to. Don't create your own road blocks, life creates those just fine without your help.