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0 pointsdeanmoriarty1y ago0 comments

> You can easily get another tech job after you take a year off.

Thank you for your comment. It is missing a critical point.

I know that it’s likely I could get another job if I wanted to, after a year self-funded sabbatical (which, btw, wouldn’t be with my current employer, after having been with the company just a few months, remember the “3 companies in the past 4 years” part, I’ve really been on a wild job hopping ride caused by how much I hate working).

What I also know is that I have this strong inner feeling that, if I took one year off work, I would never, ever, want to go back to work, because working after experiencing such freedom would feel even more torturous than it is today. So, I see this strictly as a one-way only, and I would like for any commenter to treat this feeling at face value.

This is, in a way (modulo the entrepreneurship part, for which I don’t think I’m cut), similar to what my dad told me once: “in my early 30s, after I quit my job to embark in my solo entrepreneurship adventures, I knew that, no matter how bad it would get, I would never get another job, the feeling of being in control of your day was way too powerful once tasted”.

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throwaway20371y ago

    > I see this strictly as a one-way only, and I would like for any commenter to treat this feeling at face value.

Sure, I believe what you say. And still, you have 5.5M USD stashed away. You will be fine financially. After you return from your Eat/Pray/Love-styled adventure, buy some middle class rental property (2-3M USD worth), and you can live forever on the cashflow. Also, move to a cheaper place -- I assume that you live in a very high cost of living place now.

At the risk of overstepping my bounds: I do think that you are underestimating how much a year away from work will rewire your brain. Even 10 days away from the office has a distinct effect upon mine. New possibilities will emerge once your brain is much less stressed for a long period.

deanmoriartyOP1y ago

> Even 10 days away from the office has a distinct effect upon mine.

Thank you for your kind message. So far, every single time I’ve taken a 1-2 week vacation, it’s been an extremely positive experience, I truly felt alive during the time off, and even my partner routinely comments how I am a brand new person on vacation.

But, coming back to work after such vacations has always been a gut wrenching experience and I felt much, much more depressed than normal for several weeks until reverting to the “baseline” depressed state, to the point where I even seriously considered not going on vacations anymore until I quit for good. For this reason I never related to people saying “a vacation recharges one person for new work challenges”. I can just speculate how the idea of coming back to work after one year off would feel.

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