<story><title>Quitting the rat race</title><url>https://seanbarry.dev/posts/quitting-the-rat-race/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anonreeeeplor</author><text>Yes.&lt;p&gt;I quit and then asked: “what if I stayed and do I regret leaving” on my last 4 companies.&lt;p&gt;Universally the answer is no I don’t regret it. One imploded and laid off like 60% of people after turning into a nasty political hell hole. Another laid off massively and is now world renowned as a failed story. Another gave me zero opportunities and everyone was yelling at each other all the time.&lt;p&gt;Believe me, I tried to enter my internal universe and be happy not learning and not growing.&lt;p&gt;Being bored to death and underutilized if you feel highly talented and creative is a form of death.&lt;p&gt;Op needs to answer: What has he done in his life? Built a unicorn and IPOd it? Jet skiing with super models? Inventing cures for diseases? Or did he sort of sit in a cubicle typing and reading Reddit for the last five years.&lt;p&gt;A lot of those on here, I don’t listen to their input on what successs is.&lt;p&gt;I will never be happy until I am climbing to the highest potential I can get to. No one is going to talk me into being otherwise.</text></item><item><author>lapcat</author><text>&amp;gt; I think I&amp;#x27;m old enough now to confidently say that, yes: Happiness really does start from within.&lt;p&gt;What does age have to do with it? You&amp;#x27;re one person. It&amp;#x27;s anecdotal data.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m old enough now (5 years later) to confidently say that, yes: Quitting my last job really did make me happier.</text></item><item><author>BaseballPhysics</author><text>Bluntly, every person I know who&amp;#x27;s expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake:  externalizing their happiness.&lt;p&gt;They inevitably move, only to find the new place they&amp;#x27;re in sucks, just in different ways.&lt;p&gt;Or they find another job, but just discover more things they hate there.&lt;p&gt;Or they find a new partner, only to discover a new set of annoyances.&lt;p&gt;The same psychology leads people to think they&amp;#x27;ll be happy if they finally get that new car, or that new house, or that new TV.&lt;p&gt;All of it comes from the same place: assuming that happiness is something you can find by simply changing your circumstances.&lt;p&gt;Now, don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, there are absolutely good reasons to want to change those circumstances!  But it&amp;#x27;s critical to understand that oftentimes there is no one change of circumstances, one decision, one thing that will result in happiness.&lt;p&gt;I know it&amp;#x27;s a cliche, but I think I&amp;#x27;m old enough now to confidently say that, yes:  Happiness really does start from within.</text></item><item><author>BizarreByte</author><text>It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been.&lt;p&gt;I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible.&lt;p&gt;At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have it better than the vast majority of humanity. I feel guilty hating my job, I won’t complain to people IRL because how could I? I have it made by all accounts. This guilt completely consumes me and adds a special level of self hatred, if I’m not happy with this, maybe I never will be?&lt;p&gt;Unlike the author though I can’t just quit, so endure it I must.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mattejade</author><text>I think many of the people who say that &amp;quot;happiness must come from within&amp;quot; are making a logical leap. It&amp;#x27;s true, you could go out and make lots of life changes yet still be unhappy. But that doesn&amp;#x27;t mean &amp;#x2F;every&amp;#x2F; life change is futile for our happiness. Perhaps you just didn&amp;#x27;t change it in the right way!&lt;p&gt;From a more scientific perspective, there have been plenty of studies done on happiness, and it&amp;#x27;s virtually undeniable that our external environment has at least &amp;#x2F;some&amp;#x2F; effect on our happiness.[1] I&amp;#x27;d argue that one has to ignore or dismiss a massive wealth of studies in psychology to insist that happiness only comes from within.&lt;p&gt;[1] Since I&amp;#x27;m talking broadly, this might act as a good summary - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Hedonic_treadmill&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Hedonic_treadmill&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Quitting the rat race</title><url>https://seanbarry.dev/posts/quitting-the-rat-race/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anonreeeeplor</author><text>Yes.&lt;p&gt;I quit and then asked: “what if I stayed and do I regret leaving” on my last 4 companies.&lt;p&gt;Universally the answer is no I don’t regret it. One imploded and laid off like 60% of people after turning into a nasty political hell hole. Another laid off massively and is now world renowned as a failed story. Another gave me zero opportunities and everyone was yelling at each other all the time.&lt;p&gt;Believe me, I tried to enter my internal universe and be happy not learning and not growing.&lt;p&gt;Being bored to death and underutilized if you feel highly talented and creative is a form of death.&lt;p&gt;Op needs to answer: What has he done in his life? Built a unicorn and IPOd it? Jet skiing with super models? Inventing cures for diseases? Or did he sort of sit in a cubicle typing and reading Reddit for the last five years.&lt;p&gt;A lot of those on here, I don’t listen to their input on what successs is.&lt;p&gt;I will never be happy until I am climbing to the highest potential I can get to. No one is going to talk me into being otherwise.</text></item><item><author>lapcat</author><text>&amp;gt; I think I&amp;#x27;m old enough now to confidently say that, yes: Happiness really does start from within.&lt;p&gt;What does age have to do with it? You&amp;#x27;re one person. It&amp;#x27;s anecdotal data.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m old enough now (5 years later) to confidently say that, yes: Quitting my last job really did make me happier.</text></item><item><author>BaseballPhysics</author><text>Bluntly, every person I know who&amp;#x27;s expressed these kinds of sentiments is guilty of the same mistake:  externalizing their happiness.&lt;p&gt;They inevitably move, only to find the new place they&amp;#x27;re in sucks, just in different ways.&lt;p&gt;Or they find another job, but just discover more things they hate there.&lt;p&gt;Or they find a new partner, only to discover a new set of annoyances.&lt;p&gt;The same psychology leads people to think they&amp;#x27;ll be happy if they finally get that new car, or that new house, or that new TV.&lt;p&gt;All of it comes from the same place: assuming that happiness is something you can find by simply changing your circumstances.&lt;p&gt;Now, don&amp;#x27;t get me wrong, there are absolutely good reasons to want to change those circumstances!  But it&amp;#x27;s critical to understand that oftentimes there is no one change of circumstances, one decision, one thing that will result in happiness.&lt;p&gt;I know it&amp;#x27;s a cliche, but I think I&amp;#x27;m old enough now to confidently say that, yes:  Happiness really does start from within.</text></item><item><author>BizarreByte</author><text>It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been.&lt;p&gt;I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible.&lt;p&gt;At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have it better than the vast majority of humanity. I feel guilty hating my job, I won’t complain to people IRL because how could I? I have it made by all accounts. This guilt completely consumes me and adds a special level of self hatred, if I’m not happy with this, maybe I never will be?&lt;p&gt;Unlike the author though I can’t just quit, so endure it I must.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bumby</author><text>“No one is going to talk me into…” is shorthand for “I’m not open to any other ideas that don’t align with my preconceived notions.” It’s not terribly productive on a site whose guidelines try to foster an open and curious conversation.</text></comment>