I QUIT MY CORPORATE 9-5 JOB: Choosing Significance & Sanity Over Success (Leading A Minimalist Life)

If you're wondering, 100k is how much my position was worth. That's the amount I was offered when I decided to leave. This is the most I've ever made at a single job. I'm lucky that Milwaukee is a very affordable city and I can appreciate a relatively high quality of living here. Thanks for watching!

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IG: @slowgaze

∞ ON ME
Linen dress
Mejuri earrings, vintage signet ring, The Great Frog pinky ring
Rouje red lipstick (Camille)

∞ FAQ
USA, 31
Chinese-American
Hers/Her

∞ HONOR NATIVE LANDS

∞ BLACK LIVES MATTER
I am taking small but crucial steps on an antiracist journey to reflect on my personal biases, (re)educate myself, and listen to the BIPoC community. This begins with acknowledging my white-adjacent privilege and by stating that I am an ally. I hear you, I see you, I am with you.

∞ DISCLOSURES
I am not a makeup artist and all comments and opinions are wholly my own. This is simply a relaxing space where I share lifestyle, beauty, and art.

#quitjobwithoutanother #quitcorporateamerica #iquit

[Will]

I also quit my job as a corporate lawyer at 45. Saved 1.5 million and moved to Spain for good. Best decision. Life is too short.

[ivearies]

Life/work balance became a priority, so I also quit my job in my 50s. It is scary, but rather eat ramen noodles for the rest of my existence than trading time for money. Time is scarce and we don’t know how long we will be around. Kudos to those who are resilient! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[jadedxserpent]

I'm 31, been in my current corporate role for almost 4 years and it's just not how I want to live my life! I don't know what I want to do yet, but I know this isn't it. Thanks for sharing your story! I am in the midst of my pondering phase to seriously quit soon and videos like these really help encourage me to take that step.

[JimmyJaxJellyStax]

I quit my corporate and remote almost 100k salary last year after a divorce (8 year marriage) and very little social support but myself but I knew the workplace harassment was destroying my soul and burning out the rest of my life. Now I'm doing freelance and waking up again feeling more alive and not on the breaking point. I did a few months of management for another company as well after quitting the salary job but also realized I need to focus on my own software engineering and creative works still.

The irony of grinding away our life for just the money is legitimately producing less innovative and quality work that deeper passionate psychological flow would be able to produce. If our sleep is chronically toxic and inflamed from our job or anything in life - our life needs us to pay attention and reassess the situation for sure.

Absolutely know the feeling of corporate subservience - almost robotic and draining of compassion in a sense and then a hilarious push for coworkers to be authentic anyways in these tense eggshell increasingly HR-filtered conditions. Yet sociopaths, narcissists, and the dark-triad personalities (a trio of narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism) tactfully exploit their peers in meetings (typically lateral) and a lot of conventional wisdom for victims is to brush it off, walk away, ignore them, etc - but the negative energy can still burn people out and even risk becoming serious health problems or violence in worst cases. Work bullies for sure - they didn't grow a healthy genuine sense if identity in a sense, not doing well inside, and are a slave to exploiting others for their own energy - increasing turnover rates. I think as the economy feels more desperate, victims keep their silence and endure but I must urge them to start documenting everything and open up to genuine sources of support as our health is actually more important than money.

[kbmakes]

Thank you for your vulnerability Diana. I'm 21, almost 22, and I'm in the middle of my undergrad. I just opened my own crochet shop last month. I was dreaming aloud about my "someday life" - someday I'll do this, be and I realized I could start laying the foundations for that now. I'm trying hard.

[gentlestormwyatt]

I left my corp job at the end of 2022. Best decision I’ve ever made. All of 2022 I was sick nonstop. 2023 I never got sick, not ever ONCE! Sniffles here and there that went away but that was it. My aura is happy. I’m happy. I’m loving life. I have a makeup business. I also got back to YouTube and I just can’t express how happy I am. I’m not even making the money I was making at that job, yet! I plan to make double and triple that. Cheers to the dreamers and believers. 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[aussiechaga]

I am 42, quit my corporate job in Feb. Feel great!!! Worked hard to get to this point. Enjoy working on my dog's youtube channel.

[xolotl]

This was so meaningful for me, I’m 48 years old, work for the same company for 23 years, I never was so happy about this work BUT it was a “good” job, after COVID everything turned into a complete nightmare, drama employees, hard to hire new employees, overworking 50 hours PLUS 30 hours per week with my side business. The a new boss came 2 years ago and made everything even worse !!! Finally a couple of weeks I picked my date, November 17th. I will go full time with my side business which its something I REALLY ENJOY and am good at. Less money ??? SURE !!! But I think I can make it work and get what I am getting pay now in this management position work.
I will be happier AND finally after YEARS i will have free time to do what I really love !!! MUSIC !!!

[zerenadiaz]

I also quit my 9-5! I dont know what I'm going to do but I know what i'm not :) came to your channel for makeup reviews, stayed for the anti-cap vibes. thanks for sharing your lessons.

[CourtneeRae]

Such a great video. I'm almost 50. I've never had a corporate job. I've been a "just a mom" my entire adult life. My oldest is 29 and my youngest is 7 and as I move into this part life, I'm really struggling with figuring out who I am outside of that, what I want to do next, and confidence. There is a huge disassociation for me between what the world sees me as and how I feel about myself.

Much food for thought here. Thank you♥️

[sprtygirl]

Thank you so much for this video. I'm 25 and just took my first job out of college, having an unconventional path and taking longer to graduate. I took a finance job and even though I'm making good money and it's not awful(!), I just know in my bones that it's not for me. I'm scared of letting my parents down, and not knowing what's next, but your video made me feel like I'm not alone. It's so easy to catastrophize and feel like I will never make good money again, which definitely isn't true. I'm tired of sacrificing my happiness. Thank you for giving me insight, and making me feel like I'm not alone in this journey <3

[imalwaysme]

The measuring stick for success is different for everyone.... success for me right now is leaving a job that sucked the life out of me.... it was TOXIC! regaining my power and control over my life! Not letting a paycheck control me! I have the utmost trust in my abilities and will find someplace that aligns with my personal and professional philosophies ❤❤

[bebois]

I quit my job today!! Thank u for keeping it real.

[becmonty]

Thanks for sharing. I did this when I turned 30 and took time to find myself again. It worked and I found my way again eventually but am so glad I trusted my gut and left because it was eating away at me.

[tiffyandtots]

I NEVER comment on videos. But oh boy does this hit so close to home…I just left a career just like yours. My career was thriving but the employer was so toxic. I stuck it out for almost 5 years and for the last two years, it has been the hardest. My advice is if you are even thinking about changing your life direction, DO IT!!! I am now changing directions and starting my own business. Time is the scarcest of resources and it is TIME for me use it wisely!! Loved your video and everything you said! ❤

[KarisaKarmali]

This is amazing, I'm very much someone who doesn't like to feel trapped as well and I absolutely love this.

[veronikat]

Wow, really enjoyed this. I’m fresh out of college and just a design intern, so guess I have a ways to go until I feel confident about relying on freelancing. I feel pretty cynical toward the corporate world in general, and am so tired of staring at the screen for so long. The idea that I can do anything I want (within reason) is simultaneously thrilling and paralyzing. It’s so easy to just keep doing the safe thing or do whatever will make you look successful even at the expense of your sanity and precious little time.

[swatigee]

It is not just “creatives” who hate the corporate world. Generally, a subset of PEOPLE hate the corporate world - even software developers, analysts, accountants, engineers. Lots of people find that it is a dumb stupid game where basically you spend your life filling in little squares - sort of like the work they do in the series “Severance”. Just wanted to point that out - thank you for your video!! Glad you had the guts to do it.

[SlowGaze]

Howdy, SlowGazers. Thank you for leaving positive comments :-) This is a vulnerable thing to share (I never want to say the "wrong" thing) but it was so important for me to get my story out there. It would've been helpful to hear these words 6 months ago. I hope this helps someone today xoxo Diana

[kdbiwdj]

32 year old guy here. I was making $110k annually as an associate director. They demoted me after 3 months of hiring me and so I made $15k less. In total, I ended up spending a year at the company. It was a fully remote role. I have been a marketer, digital marketer, media planner since I was in college and I have been tired of it for years. I am a creative person and the way things were operating within my company were not efficient. I quit and am headed to Bogotá, Colombia for 2 months or more to tap into my creative skills. Previously I worked remote there for one full month and loved it. I have been an artist for my entire life. I am nervous because of the unknown. I do not have a job lined and my lease is over and so I put my small number of things in storage. I do not have an apartment so that also makes me nervous but I think because I have a plan I am kind of calm about all of this. Anyone ever do anything like this?