An increase in awareness - is it permanent?

I've done The Work on many, many thoughts since Christmas. In the start it was incredibly painful to sit down with it, now it's more neutral. Every day it seems like thoughts and emotions subsides. My mind has quited down a lot. I experience stillness and a very subtle feeling of bliss regularly, which I rarely did before. When I go for a walk is when I notice it the most, but I experience it everywhere.

At first I noticed it as an increase in awareness, like I was able to take more of the outside in. A few hours after doing The Work, this awareness would fade and I would be back in my regular state of mind, a very busy and painful one. The last week this seems to have become more permanent. Besides when I experience some specific triggers, which fades a lot quicker than before, I stay in a meditative and pleasant state of mind most of the day. Even typing this I can feel it, it's like a background noise, but of stillness instead. My mind feels empty.

I actually took time off work to do The Work, and I truly do see it as my real work in life. I keep wondering where I will end up if I continue this. I also wonder if I go back go work if the stress will pull me back into a bad state of mind. I also wonder if I stop doing The Work, would my state of mind be reverted or not after some time.

After a lot of worksheets, it becomes obvious that everything painful is simply a thought believed to be true. This doesn't entirely erase all beliefs, though. I wonder if at some point, the distance to "my" thoughts will be so great that a total disidentification with mind happens.

To those who went very far with The Work, did you at some point no longer need to do it?