[adam_arthur]

I had the complete opposite experience.

The more money and security I made, the less beholden I felt to the workplace and things that weren't personal to me. Less anxiety, less need to appeal to others for survival/success (of course still try to be nice)

I've also always had tons of ideas and things I wanted to pursue outside of work. So never lacked for motivation or sense of purpose.

My dad recently retired and seems to not have much direction now, so it must be a somewhat individualistic response.

Always interesting to see others reactions!

[the_snooze]

I'm of the same mind. Money is simply a means to an end. The workplace is just somewhere to exchange your time and skills for money, which you use to pursue priorities outside of that.

No job will ever tell you you've done enough and so you should do something else. If you don't make that call yourself, whose life are you actually living?