I’m 35 years old and I have been working since I was 17 years old. Being born as a second generation American from an immigrant family, I was instilled from an early age of the importance of academic and financial success. I studied hard in high school, got into university on a military scholarship, and served the military honorable for six years. After the military, I worked for a Fortune 500 company since then and have become a model employee who never complains, always volunteering to do the extra work when needed, and rarely called off as I will go to work even when I am not feeling well.
Throughout all this time my physical and mental health has suffered due to stress and it got to the point where I questioned myself of what my purpose in life was. Was I going to keep doing this until I turn 65 and then finally get to do what I really wanted in life which was to travel the world with my backpack? This questioned simmered inside me since 2017 and I made a deadline for myself that once I turn 35, I am going to leave everything behind and just check out. I don’t want to wait any longer as this is the only life I have and my time is slowly running out.
It has only been 1 month since I have left my job and began to travel solo. I’m now in a country where I didn’t even know existed until recently. I am able to take the time and smell the roses everyday. I can already feel mentally and physically better and I’m sure it will keep getting better. There is so much more to life than living to work. I don’t have any investments to rely on, I don’t have a lot of money saved up as a lot of it was used to help my relatives. I am going with the flow and living for each moment rather than for the next paycheck, promotion, or possession.
Thank you everyone here for helping me to make this decision as it made me feel that I wasn’t the only one feeling like a used condom that gets discarded after getting fucked from behind by the system.