At work as a programmer, you’re “supposed” to spend some free time doing projects and have “hobby development”, so you can reach the next career echelon. Even not in a programming career, everything is rushed, it must happen now. People are either on or off, and off is a dissociative activity, desperately trying to save our sanity so that we can be on the next day. We’re rich, but it doesn’t feel like it. I think we need a way for the culture to emphasize “slow down”. If you travel to other countries, you’ll find a much slower pace of life - there needs to be a better way to opt into something like that without giving up basic security. If I quit my job to pursue a slower pace of life, it’s almost a guarantee that I will lose my health insurance. I probably would have to move to another area, but the “slow” areas are either riddled with their own problems or are the playgrounds of the super rich. Where’s the calm, collected, slow middle? I’d like to find it. My job is even very good about work life balance and I struggle with this.