Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Quitting the rat race

seanbarry.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 434 posts

Re: Quitting the rat race

#91

Post by jehb »

Having "quit the rat race" last year, spending much time in the mountains just like the author, and now finding myself back in the corporate world again, I do have one piece of advice.

Do not let your job become a part of your identity.

I work just as hard at my new job as I did at my last one, but in my mind, they're just a client I'm choosing to offer services to at this time. I've made many good friends through work over the years, but now my loyalty to my friends is independent of my loyalty to the companies for which we work. I used to use the demonym of my place of work to tell people about myself; now I describe myself by my hobbies, my beliefs, and my aspirations.

Did that solve everything? Of course not. Late-stage capitalism is still riddled with bullshit. But I do sleep better at night.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#92

Post by itisit »

fsckboy wrote: post #84
itisit wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do people who have a critique of society think that they're the only ones who ever thought of this stuff? Where did you get that from?

did you need to watch the video to grasp the idea of what a rat-race is? The author thought you did, OP thought you needed "dropping out of the rat race" explained to you, meaning thta OP thought you never thought of it before.

The reader's ignorance isn't implied at all. If anything, that video is a concise, entertaining way to prime someone for the post's topic. This isn't some op-ed in the New York Times. With all due respect, maybe introspect your reaction.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#93

Post by kaashif »

Minor49er wrote: post #59

I wonder if the author is the type of person to use up all of his vacation time or let it build up

Interesting question. At my old job a lot of people would let vacation days accumulate and since only a few days would carry over to the next year, lots of people "had" to "think of" a vacation towards the end of the year.

This was always insane to me, I always had my vacations and visits to family planned out well in advance, I never had anything left over.

Maybe it means something, maybe not.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#94

Post by thenerdhead »

This seems to be a common phenomena. One thing that recently stood out as to why is the flow state famous by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

In short, you might experience flow outside of your day-to-day life (i.e. work). It becomes such an addicting feeling that you try to revolve your entire life around that new sensation.

It's funny, because much of the time it happens when people do something a bit difficult and outside of their current skillset. For software types it tends to always be something with nature or woodworking.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#96

Post by wnolens »

Ah yes.. the trope of overpaid (with respect to history) millennial writing about their transcendence from this absurd thing called 'work'.

Not judging harshly because I did nearly the same as the author years ago! Only I found a pot of emptiness at the end of the rainbow. I hope he really REALLY likes mountains ;)

Re: Quitting the rat race

#97

Post by alecbz »

shinycode wrote: post #13

Feels like you just need some long holidays

IME long breaks do very little to help with burnout like this.

All you're doing is giving yourself a brief reprieve from an environment that drains your energy. You'll build up a bit of the energy over the break, but as soon as you come back you'll start getting drained again, possibly even worse than before because of the contrast of having to be back in that environment.

Breaks are important but if your environment is fundamentally draining you day after day, they're not going to move that needle.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#98

Post by jkelleyrtp »

nine_k wrote: post #10

If you're well-off, have no dependents, and can also work remotely, why not enjoy the mountains, the nature, the beauty of the great outside? Do yourself a favour.

I did this during covid. I really enjoyed it. But it does get lonely, not that many young people, and the city I lived near was just not that bustling. You quickly eat your way through all the restaurants in town and there's just not that much culture.

It was a great covid experience, but it's not quite something I want to repeat soon.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#99

Post by SeattleAltruist »

Kudos! May I suggest ikiagi, the overlap between what you are good at (vocation), what you love (passion), what makes adequate money (profession), and what the world needs (mission). See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikigai. The Japanese call it "the reason for getting out of bed in the morning." Best of luck with your continued search for balance in life.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#100

Post by sunsunsunsun »

larrymyers wrote: post #85
geraldwhen wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you go full corporate but cut your hours by interleaving things you enjoy, like hobbies or gym time. What happens if you take a 90 minute bike ride each day without changing your hours at all? Would anyone notice? Would they care? Work is about dollars per hour. Salary is a trick.

That's kinda the whole point of being salaried though isn't it? (At least for those of us in the US.) You are an exempt employee as defined by US labor law. You aren't required to receive overtime pay, and you are evaluated on your expertise and the results you deliver. So if you can get in daily rides and still meet the expectations of your employer, awesome, you're doing it right. You're likely also doing right by…

Tell this to my employer. They require me to log >= 40 hours per week, they have no problem with overtime but get a stick up their ass about undertime. I lie pretty much every week on my timesheet unless I happen to do overtime that week. Most people I talk to in the company do the same.
Post reply on HN