Exploring why it was so hard to leave

Someone asked me why I felt it was wrong to be leaving even though I had been unhappy and wanted to leave for so long. I guess the best answer to that comes in a list.

Why did I feel guilty about leaving?
1. Because I felt like I was leaving others behind in a "bad situation"...why?
2. Because I felt like I should be staying to help them make it work?...why?
3. Because if I did not stay and help them make it work then I felt like I was bailing out on them and people who do their jobs well/successfully do not quit...
4. By "quitting" I felt like I was letting people down including myself....
5. Letting people down = failure to me.

There is a quote by Emiliy Dickinson that I like and use often in my signature line, "What would you do if you knew you could not fail?" I would live my life a lot more spontaneously than I do now. I would find a job I love and not worry about money and probably 100 other things.

But for me failure is always a part of the equation that I have to look at as a possibility. Why? Where did this come from? Who cares if I fail? What is the worst that can happen?

More to explore.