Read These Stories About People Who Were Miserable In Their Cushy, Corporate Jobs And How They Found A Way To Fix It

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I hate Mondays. I even hate Sundays, because they are one day closer to Mondays. Work is so miserable that it has made me truly despise one of the seven days of the week. And by the looks of my non-existent 401K, I will be doing this shit for *looks at watch* at least 50 more years (if I live that long).

Here are people who recognized that they hated work, and found away to escape it. These brave souls now enjoy Mondays, because they enjoy what they do. Imagine that.

From Reddit:

I was a librarian in my provincial government (being vague, there aren’t many). Worked long hours and was stressed and hated my coworkers.
My parents retired out to a small town on Vancouver Island. I came out to visit in February. Spent a week catching up with my parents, going out, walking along the beach and hiking in the forests and up mountains.

I’d moved out here by the end of June.

I now work 3 days a week in a local shop and spend a few extra hours a week teaching people technology in their homes. I have a crappy little apartment where everything in it is run down and older than I am, but it’s right in the middle of the tiny town. Out one window I see the mountains, out the other, the ocean. Out the back is a provincial forest.

I may not make much money at all, but I make enough to pay the bills and sock away a few hundred bucks every few months. I live simply, but love every day of it. No regrets at all. I’m with my family (my sister moved out here as well), I love my job, my coworkers, and every day I step outside, look around, and say “wow, I’m so lucky.”

It must be nice to lack aspiration.

I worked for a fortune 500 company for 5 years in San Francisco. When I finally decided to leave I told my boss that I was leaving and he was like “Where are you going?” expecting to hear “Google” or “Facebook” or something like that. I told him “Costa Rica” and his reaction was pretty great. It was the best decision that I could have made. I wasn’t happy doing work that wasn’t meant for me. After leaving I ended up leading a team at a new startup doing things that are much more morally aligned with my personal values than what I was doing previously. There’s not enough time in life to put up with being unhappy at work. If you don’t like it then quit.
Surviving is easy. Thriving is difficult.

I’m ready to start thriving.

Was corporate lawyer/exec for 20 years and hated the job, though it was very easy and paid well. I am a creative person and it was not a good job for that. My goal was to save enough for retirement (401k, pension, savings) and buy a house outright so then I could take any job regardless of pay. I quit the second I hit my goal (it was a Tuesday at around 10am when I hit it, walked down to my boss, told him I was leaving) to the shock of my company. I was 42.

I moved to New Mexico, flipped a house, then moved to Utah and flipped another. Now 1 year later I have a small real estate development company, we have 5 projects totaling 62 units and also 2 flips going. I contract out all the work except the design part so I have a creative outlet. Spend half the winter in Hawaii, other half skiing here in Utah.

Obviously it helps that I amassed a good deal of wealth as a lawyer, but the second I quit I became focussed on the moment I was in and have way less anxiety about what’s happening tomorrow, and I never have that “oh god, I gotta go to work” feeling. I am way, way happier.

My work friends thought I was nuts because I “gave up/lost” a crazy ton of deferred compensation when I left (they truly are golden handcuffs). The hardest part for me was realizing my needs and that I did not need more money than meeting those needs. I still remember the epiphany “how much money do I need?”

My lifestyle has changed on certain things (like eating out all the time and flying first for everything and losing all my airline and hotel status), but the year after I quit I spent 11k and had everything I wanted. I also learned guitar, hiked many amazing places, grew a beard (my company would never allow that!), built an amazing garden, and learned how to say “fuck it” and really mean it.

Edit-reading this over I think it sounds kind of douche-y. So in my defense I’ll say I know my path is not that common or exactly attainable and I was super fortunate and so lucky…but it was really really hard and took me many years to overcome the materialistic urges I had learned in the corp executive bubble. So I am kind of proud to have walked away from it. Even if I had a mortgage I would be living large for about 40k, though admittedly I would not be saving.

Ah, so the key is to get rich first. Well, shit.

I left a boring 7-4 office job in IT, support mostly. I couldn’t stand sitting inside and dealing with angry people all day.
I’m currently an Arborist, I climb trees with a chainsaw for a living, I have my own company, plan my own time and I haven’t been this happy in all the time I had a “regular” job. I also make more money and have much more free time, and because I work outside and get plenty of excercise I’m healthier and more fit than I’ve been ever before too.

I’ll be an arborist. I love trees. Where can one sign up for Arborist Academy?

I left a job in the City of London, with a telephone number salary and associated lifestyle, to follow my dream and become a writer.
I’d spent ten years working as an investment broker and management consultant for a large city firm and, for the last 18 months, had come to the realisation that I had lost belief in what I was doing. I felt shallow and started to despise everything about the world in which I existed. One day, I handed my notice in and walked away. It was a risky move as I only had enough money saved to last me a year.
I knew within six weeks that I had made the right decision. The stress evaporated and I became a different person, but I found meaning and great enjoyment in what I was doing. I had a slow start, but it snowballed and, as a journalist and author, I have learned and experienced things that no amount of money or status could have brought me.
Fifteen years on, I have no regrets other than wishing I’d made the change sooner. My friends tell me that I’m a nicer and more grounded person

“Telephone number salary.” I have a…zip code salary.

Worked at a shitty sales job out of college. Lasted 6 months before I realized I never wanted to wear slacks or show up to an office where people spent 6/8 hours bitching about customers or talking about yesterday’s zumba class again. Sold my car and what little I owned and moved to China. Now work at a craft brewery. Don’t make much money but everyone I work with is a total homie, learning about cool stuff, and I get to continue to study Chinese. It’s fucking awesome. The beer is good. The people are cool. And I wear sandals to work.
Don’t know how long I will work here, but really happy to be learning every day, and I will always be thankful to the people I work with for giving me the chance to do something fun.

Craft beer in China? Sounds legit.

I worked a Monday to Friday sales job 9-5 weekends off and it just didn’t cut it for me. I felt that there was more for me out there and decided to apply as a flight attendant for a major commercial airline company in my country. One of my top goals was to travel and explore the world. Best thing that has ever happened to me, I had to move to the other side of the country for my job but the rewards are priceless. Anytime you place yourself out of your comfort zone this is when you truly start to live and experience life for what it is. If you’re having thoughts about leaving your corporate job I suggest you just do it, chances are you’re probably not fully content if you’re thinking your options.

I wish more men would be flight attendants. Flying around the country and world all day sounds awesome.

I started in IT doing a Windows rollout project (as a contractor for a recruitment agency) for a big IT corporate. Quickly became team leader for a few more sites on the project, and within a few months the company offered me a job in IT support. The company I worked for had tuition agreements with big players like HP, where I would be able to get qualifications through the company for free, and my manager saw a good future for me in the company. However, I just felt that the corporate culture was draining my spirit. Life became a matter of survive the week so that you can have a drink with your friends over the weekend, which is how many busy professionals live. The pay was good, especially considering that I started at the bottom and would quickly work my way up. But I just hated the corporate culture, the commute, the lack of time, always being tired.
Now I do network cabling and related DIY stuff for small businesses. It’s extremely fulfilling. I go to site, I install the cables in the 2-8 hours that it takes, and then I go home. No sitting around waiting for work, no having to look busy for the clients. Just do the work, finish the work on the same day that you start, and go home without any lingering stress from any ongoing calls. I earn less overall, but I work fewer hours and can choose when I want to go to site. It’s particularly nice for me when I can arrange to do the work overnight, since I love to sleep in and I enjoy working when it’s quiet. I’m much happier now, and my finances aren’t bad either: with reduced income, you just need to reduce your expenditure. Slightly smaller car, slightly cheaper food, slightly older cell phone.

That sounds very chill.

I had a soul-crushing cubicle job in my 20s. Absolute hell. I used to think about just driving off the road and killing myself while driving to work. Not out of hate, just straight apathy. When I realized that was what I was thinking, I gave my notice, and drove a big rig all over the US for a year and a half while I figured out what I wanted to do. Best thing that I could have done. That was almost two decades ago. Taught me to never feel trapped, or if I do feel trapped, it’s because I’m being a pussy.

TL;DR Everyone who works in a cubicle is a pussy.

I worked for a law firm and moved to a rural area to be closer to my parents. My mother has lupus and I wanted to be closer to her to help them out around the house and financially when I could afford it.
Just found out two days ago that my father has been diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis (don’t look it up, the prognosis isn’t usually good). It’s the same disease that killed my uncle and my grandmother.
I left a lot of money behind to switch jobs and enjoyed the slower pace of working out here but I had always had the “did I make the right choice?” question in the back of my mind.
Now that I know just how little time I might have with my father left I absolutely am happy I made the move. I’ve been able to see him more in the last 2 years than I had the previous 7. I plan on taking every chance I can to spend as much time with him as possible moving forward. Hopefully I get the chance to take him down to Toronto for a few more Leafs games over the next couple years.

Being close to family is awesome.

I ran away to sea for three years sailing tallships.
It gives a good perspective on what is and isn’t important. Everyone should do it.

I’d do this if I didn’t have a complete and total hatred for giant bodies of water. Is there a land equivalent of this?

I just quit my desk job to be a professional magician.
Financially, it was a terrible fucking idea and I’m barely keeping my head above water. This month I made less than rent. At current rates, I have about a year of savings before I’m dead broke. Hopefully I can turn it around before then.
Still–I got out of a bullshit job I hated that gave me no self respect whatsoever. I figure that at the very worst, I’m on an extended vacation–if things don’t work out, I can always go back to being a desk monkey.

Good luck, GOB.

I had a six figure corporate job and worked weekends and 16 hour days. I remember my daughter calling me to ask if I was coming home. I’d drive her to school and see her in bed at night. Now I’m getting a biology degree and doing research. Saturday I was in waders in a fast moving river, collecting fish samples with four people from our lab, and loving every minute of it. I drive a car without hubcaps and worry about paying bills, and have loan debt, but I’m happy.

That’s what it’s about.

Was teaching scuba diving overseas for a few years. Great lifestyle but eventually you want more money in the bank at the end of the year than the beginning of the year. So now I’m back to the cubicle life.

You were so close!

I’m not going to be leaving my corporate job, I’m way over payed and under worked. Can’t give that up just yet. But I am in the process of selling my house and moving into my truck. My plan is to live wherever my wheels stop and just commute back to work each day.
I don’t know if I’ll be happier but I suspect I will be. I don’t like owning a home, I don’t want to burn money on rent and I need a very small footprint to be happy.

I suspect you won’t be working much longer unless you find a place to shower.

Currently unemployed. Left my corporate city job and took a few months to stabilize my head. I’ve decided to go into the recreational cannabis industry. Money doesn’t mean much to meas I’m used to being relatively poor so I’m happier guess.

Invest big in the cannabis industry.

My mom just retired at 50 to start teaching at the college level. She started with a few night classes last year loved it. She was an executive at a large corporation making over $250,000/yr., but her job was very stressful, and she felt if she didn’t leave then she may very well be taking years off her life because of it (she said there would be a heart attack in her building every month). She just sold her old house and bought a lake house too, so she’s taking the summer off to move, but she’ll be back at it in the fall and wants to apply to some PhD programs.

My dad did the same thing and loves it.

What will you do to not just survive, but thrive? To read more of this thought-provoking thread, click HERE..

[via Reddit]

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