<p>“Some of the happiest people I know have dropped out only a short distance. They still live in the city and have jobs and pay rent, but they’ve done something more mentally difficult – and mentally liberating – than moving to some isolated farm. They have become permanently content with low-status, modest-paying jobs that they don’t have to think about at home or even half the time when they’re at work. Yes, these jobs are getting scarce, but they’re still a thousand times more plentiful than the kind of job that miserable people cannot give up longing for – where you make a living doing something so personally meaningful that you would do it for free.”</p>
<p>“They have become permanently content with low-status, modest-paying jobs that they don’t have to think about at home or even half the time when they’re at work.”</p>
<p>As long as they’re also content with the fact that their jobs are likely to abruptly disappear, that’s fine. I hope they’re engaging in things during their free time that make them happy. </p>
<p>“they’re still a thousand times more plentiful than the kind of job that miserable people cannot give up longing for – where you make a living doing something so personally meaningful that you would do it for free.”"</p>
<p>The people who manage to have these kind of jobs are, I think the happiest because if they do lose their jobs, they still probably can find a way to continue being happy by doing that work for free.</p>