Oh man, I think I have lived this exact situation and my advice lines up with some of what others have said: First, do you job very well and with little drama. Second, when you are not at work, your job is to find another job. Best case, you leave for a better situation. Lesser case (my situation), the entire group is about to be vaporized and my boss was letting me know to get out while I could. I didn't know that's what he meant until I was unemployed.

Anonymous wrote:If you have a good relationship, they probably mean exactly what they said. They hope you stay but they understand if you want to go because you're too good for this place. That's not uncommon in toxic environments with a few good people who carry everything.

Yep. If the boss likes you and sees you as a mentee, they may truly understand if you feel you are frustrated and leave.

Anonymous wrote:Either you leave willingly or she’s going to do it for you.

NP. I don’t know if I agree with this. I don’t think she’d say “I really want you to stay…” if he/she wanted you out. Depending on your relationship, I can see a good boss/coach just leveling with you.

If you have a good relationship, they probably mean exactly what they said. They hope you stay but they understand if you want to go because you're too good for this place. That's not uncommon in toxic environments with a few good people who carry everything.

Agree with above. I would do one thing immediately: give off a calm cool and collected 'I'll get it done' demeanor and then get it done, early or on time, every time. Don't be too vulnerable with this person because I take this to mean they feel you're stressed.

Either you leave willingly or she’s going to do it for you.

In a very challenging work environment where everyone is frustrated, my boss says to me during a 1:1 conversation where we are talking about all the ways a few projects will crash and burn and what we can do about it, "I really want you to stay, but I understand if you can’t just take this anymore.”

I was caught off guard and quite don’t know if this is her way of saying she wants me to go.