"Many of the people I work with as a burnout coach tell themselves a golden-cage story. On paper, their jobs and lives might look good. And yet, they are exhausted, dissatisfied, and quietly desperate for more time, energy, and freedom. They long for a different rhythm of life - but feel financially trapped. The story they tell themselves goes like this: It would be reckless, even irresponsible, to leave this job."
"We long for more time - and then spend the little free time we have consuming, often in ways that aren't even satisfying. We binge-watch series in a half-comatose state. We eat non-nourishing food. We drink too much wine to take the edge off. We shop online for fleeting dopamine hits. Even holidays can disappoint us because we expect too much, or else we collapse into them so exhausted that we immediately get ill."
Many people feel trapped in attractive but exhausting jobs because rising expenses and lifestyle choices match increasing salaries, creating financial entrapment. The result is chronic stress, exhaustion, and insufficient time to enjoy possessions or experiences. Limited free time is often spent on habitual, unsatisfying consumption—binge-watching, unhealthy eating, recreational drinking, and impulsive shopping—that medicates depletion rather than delivering joy. Holidays can fail to refresh when expectations are high or exhaustion undermines recovery. True wealth must encompass time, health, and freedom in addition to income and status, prompting reevaluation of spending, commitments, and the rhythms of daily life.
Read at Psychology Today
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]