Career change question for everyone

[ftsfour1]

This depends entirely on you and your situation and what is important to you. Do you have obligations (e.g. family, sick parents, a lot of debt, etc) that require you to keep a relatively similar salary? Can you sacrifice some of that income for greater general happiness? What is it you want that you're not getting, other than opportunities for employment advancement?



Disclaimer: I have nothing "holding me down." No family, I don't own my home, etc. I can pick up and go wherever, whenever.

I'm turning 40 in a few months. I have a great life overall. My income is awesome, I work 100% from home, I can take off as much time as I want, whenever I want it, within reason. I can (and have done) my "job" (IT Contractor) from anywhere on the road. But, I've been doing this same sort of stuff for the past 20 years and I'm simply getting sick of it. I've never had a real vacation, never traveled anywhere special, etc.

So I'm tossing most of it and just hitting the "restart" button on my life. By this time next year I should be in Japan attending a 2yr language school. Two years after that, I'll probably still be there doing the English teaching thing -- this is the only reason I'm pursuing a degree, in fact.

Most of my friends think I'm nuts. I may hate it there, which is true, but I can always just leave if that's the case. The pay is going to be massively below what I currently make (though I will continue to do some remote contract work), with almost no opportunity for "advancement" in the traditional sense. There are 1000 reasons to not do it.

But there's one reason to do it that trumps them all: I want to. That's all there is to it.

You go, you!!! That's a great story! I certainly wish you well on your journey.

No kids or really anything holding me down. I do own a home, but that's it for debt.