{"id":598343,"date":"2023-01-17T05:50:36","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T11:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/17\/quitting-the-rat-race\/"},"modified":"2023-01-17T05:50:36","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T11:50:36","slug":"quitting-the-rat-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/17\/quitting-the-rat-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Quitting the rat race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Some readers may be familiar with the cartoon \u201cHappiness\u201d by Steve Cutts. If you\u2019re not, it\u2019s embedded below. Please take four minutes to give it a watch if you haven\u2019t already:<\/p>\n<p> <iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/e9dZQelULDk\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Around the 30 second mark is a scene where the protaganist rat is waiting for a train to arrive at a packed platform. I recently had a sobering realisation while standing waiting at the platform for the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Waterloo_%26_City_line\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Waterloo &#038; City Line<\/a>: this had become my life.<\/p>\n<p>I grew up in one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Caithness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">least densely populated<\/a> parts of the United Kingdom. My childhood was a happy one: full of trees, hills, mountains, lakes, beaches, and all of the adventures to be found in such places. I now live in one of the most nature depleted parts of an already nature depleted country. <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s so much noise in the city around me: planes approaching Heathrow, scooters whizzing around to deliver bags of fast food, cars revving while breaking the speed limit to get to the next red light, people playing music out loud while travelling and rowdy groups heading home from the pub.<\/p>\n<p>When I cycle I need to cycle through kilometre after kilometre of urban jungle before I see anything resembling a field. When I run I have to stop frequently to cross dangerous roads. I\u2019m constantly aware that the air I\u2019m breathing is polluted and the water I drink has been recycled many times.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m currently working at a top tier investment bank as a software engineer. I\u2019m an insignificant cog in a machine that skims the cream from the milk. I\u2019m earning the most money I\u2019ve ever made and yet I\u2019m the least fulfilled I\u2019ve ever been. <\/p>\n<p>Almost everything around me is designed to addict me. Every storefront specifically engineered to attract me inside with gimics like flashing lights. There are countless places I can go to buy experiences &#8211; simulations supposed to release some chemicals in my brain and give me a thrill.<\/p>\n<p>The truth is: nothing I\u2019ve done or experienced in this place has given me any experience comparable to walking along the ridge between two mountains. Nothing has made me feel alive like getting in to freezing cold water despite my body screaming at me not to. Nothing has made me feel anything like that feeling when you summit a mountain after 2 hours of solid climbing in the rain, and the clouds part to reveal the most spectacular and breathtaking view you\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p>The best part about those things is that there is no booking system. There is no door security choosing who gets in because there is no door. It\u2019s all there, ready to be experienced, and free.<\/p>\n<p>Right now in the UK and across the world, things are uncertain. Companies are laying workers off, there\u2019s a cost of living and energy crisis. I\u2019m excruciatingly lucky to have been in the right place at the right time to develop the skillset I\u2019ve got. In times like these every signal is telling me to stay on the path I\u2019m on, enjoying the comfort and safety of a high paying job. <\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not going to listen. I\u2019m quitting and I\u2019m leaving this place. I\u2019ll see you in the mountains.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net\/811543ab63aca5b5583ac0cd9f8101a0d623e11e\/428bd\/media\/cold.jpeg\" alt=\"Swimming in freezing water\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net\/263801c6e102f3f7b8c7f07f12ec31c6a3ffcc5e\/ed0e5\/media\/beauty.jpeg\" alt=\"The most beautiful place I've been\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d33wubrfki0l68.cloudfront.net\/4e6bd658d0f33d4a4089f88f8a2a6c87abc1d842\/47aa2\/media\/summit.jpeg\" alt=\"On the ridge\"><\/p>\n<p>If this resonated with you &#8211; reach out to me on Twitter &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seanbarryuk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">@SeanBarryUK<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/seanbarry.dev\/posts\/quitting-the-rat-race\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Margherita Culton<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some readers may be familiar with the cartoon \u201cHappiness\u201d by Steve Cutts. If you\u2019re not, it\u2019s embedded below. Please take four minutes to give it a watch if you haven\u2019t already: Around the 30 second mark is a scene where the protaganist rat is waiting for a train to arrive at a packed platform. I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31431,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-quitting","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}