European Lifestyle in America

Hi everyone,

believe it or not, but I don't want to spend the "best years of my life" in a cubicle or bull pen working on some spreadsheet no one will even read at 2 AM. However, neither do I want to take a "career break" to travel the world and then have to deal with HR questioning my resume for the rest of my life. Is there a hybrid option? A prestigious, (relatively) high-paying job, that has high potential for promotions/upward-mobility. 

You might think that this is impossible and I just want a "free lunch", but I don't see why it's not possible - in Europe people have the summer off and have a much more "chill" work week. Are there such jobs in the US/Canada? I want to experience life - like travel the world, explore the catacombs, have time to be in a relationship, go base jumping in Bali, etc.

When you're 80 or 90 and looking back at your life - will you reminisce about that time you spent 20 hours on some slide decks your MD asked you to do and then never asked about them again?

Furthermore, if you're working in the great People's Socialist Republic of NYC, does it really matter if you're making $90k or $135k? After all of the taxes and "lifestyle creep" - it is very similar in terms of quality of life.

This might sound cliche/cringe - but one thing I've heard from a ton of older people is that "time flies" - right now you're a college kid pulling fun pranks in the dorms and going to epic parties; and in a blink and you're a 42 year old balding, pot-bellied VP at some EB with a mortgage, a monthly car payment, and a few words away from being handed divorce papers. And so you reflect at your life: your childhood as a insecure kid - to a college student camping out in the library - to a summer at a top BB - to grinding as an analyst - to slowly climbing up the corporate ladder, and you ask yourself a question: when was I happy?

I recently read an article in the NY Post about a woman in her 20s who was working as a top fashion designer:

“At 23, I was finally living the life I had dreamed about as a teenager,” Kapashi said.

“I used to eat my lunch near the office on Union Square every day and eat at some of the top restaurants at night with my friends,” she said. 

But not even all the pasta and Prada in the world could fill the emptiness that was growing inside her, Kapashi said.

“I couldn’t understand why I wasn’t the happiest person in the world,’’ the nun said.

Kapashi resigned from her job and began meeting with Jain study groups in Queens once a week. She eventually moved to India and formally studied to become a nun. Jainism is a major religion in India, along with Hinduism and Buddhism. Her family originated from Mumbai.

Now, as a nun, “we sleep for six hours a night, meditate for 90 minutes a day, and we study the Jain philosophy for 15 hours a day,” Kapashi said. “We live a nomadic existence in India. I have no possessions. I have nothing, but I’ve never been so happy.”