I was in an okay job and was looking for something better a few years back. I told nobody that I was looking. Having the resume I had was impressive enough to get an interview. The place was about 2-3 hours from home, so 4-6 hours round trip plus about 2 hours of interview, it was my whole day. And it paid off. I’m now making double what I had been making, and they got me relocation assistance which effectively paid for me to move, so I’m only about 15 minutes away now.

When you already have a job, you have the power to walk away from the table during the interviews and negotiations, so you have the power to fight for an actual improvement instead of just taking whatever you can get. When your resume has value, you start interviewing companies to see whether they’re worthy of having you, and that’s a really interesting shift in power dynamic that I wasn’t expecting.

There’s always a better job out there. It’s foolish to think that you somehow already found the best job possible. That having been said, I’m not fully understanding your desire to leave since it seems like just minor issues in an otherwise great place. It might help to just get fulfillment from hobbies in your free time and maybe share discussion of that hobby with your coworkers to show positivity and passion. They don’t have to be your friends, but they’ll probably get off your back when they hear that you’re an actual person and not a quiet labor robot. You shouldn’t have to appease them, but it’s a pretty simple adjustment to make yourself happier there.