[CalRobert]

Memento mori may be depressing, but once you embrace it I know no better way to gain the motivation to do the things I truly want with my life.

How many Sunday afternoons with my young children do I get? That's not even about death, just that they will grow up one day soon. How many of them do I want to spend getting paged about some bullshit database problem? Or scrolling mindlessly on my phone?

[TomK32]

12 years is what you have with you child, after that parents are far less important to them than their friends.

[CalRobert]

Sounds like a good reason not to take the pager more than necessary.

[jstarfish]

People beat themselves up about this a lot. White people love to hate themselves.

Sure, your employer will reward your commitment by laying you off once you're of age, but it doesn't take much to end up estranged from your adult kids despite a lifetime of effort expended there either.

Hold out for grandchildren. It's the fun part of parenting without the responsibilities.

[CalRobert]

I don't beat myself up about this. Hating myself is why I let myself be abused with obscene on-call for years. Respecting myself and deciding what I cared about in life is what allowed me to quit that job, even though it was secure.