This just comes off as the equivalent of saying:
> I recently had to to fly somewhere - fortunately, by private jet
The privilege and wealth requisite to be able to do either of these things just make it unrelatable.
Firstly, the privilege call-out isn't very functional here. So what? People aren't allowed to relate their experiential pain?
Furthermore, at various stages of my life, I've taken 3 or 6 or 9 months off... all on my own, and either because I was living in a $300 apartment, or lived in a tent, or had just enough saved up for beans and my apartment. Not working for a while, because you've gotten just a few things sorted, isn't necessarily privilege or wealth -- sometimes it's actually poverty. Sometimes it's something else, and the story can still be listened to on its own merits.
The choice becomes "either I willingly quit, or suicide starts to become attractive".
Burnout is _strange_ because the person suffering reaches an unbearable state before the company complains about a lack of performance (to a point of firing them).
Of course, I understand that is still a privilege many don't have, and this woman worked for McKinsey as her first job, so I'm sure she's making a lot more money than I am.
The medical bills are 50k and counting. Thankfully my wife's insurance (she's working) fully covers this.
I cannot imagine taking time off without any health insurance and the cost of CORBA is itself one or two thousand every month for two people.
But if you're single and under 27 (where you can still fall back under your parents healthcare) things could be easier.
The CORBA cost was even higher.
That being said, it's definitely better for poor people to become unemployed against their will, because then they can get unemployment.
Lots of people in tech or programming fields can get paid >$80k per year. Spend some time at that salary, and be thrifty, and you can save up many thousands after a few years. Easily enough for a several-month cushion.
No, not everyone can do this.
But people here also write about their MacBook Pros, and many people can't afford those either. (Indeed, for the cost of a high-end MacBook Pro many people could afford to take a month or two off.)
Being able to voluntarily not work in your early twenties would be pretty spectacular - but once you start building a bit of a nest egg you should be able to afford short stints.
Also keep in mind that stateside, a giant portion of expenses you would have to take into account while unemployed are what you intend to do about health insurance.
I agree that the costs are higher in the US and it makes dealing with stress more difficult but... the US is a terrible place to be if absolutely anything is wrong with you - so assuming you could take a pleasant sabbatical there seems unwise. It'd almost certainly be cheaper to move overseas and pay whatever monthly fee the local government charges to temporarily enroll on their healthcare and it sucks - but, again, it's the US where healthcare is a stressful burden yall have to deal with - I was born there and emigrated and I've been quite happy myself.
Very right. But we need to remember the "Time" factor too (i.e. Ageing). I am in a peculiar place, due to circumstances which have left me no option but a single unfavourable one and it has been hard maintaining needed "in-demand skills" for a possible future career resurgence. So i am thankful that i worked like crazy when younger and saved up which is what is sustaining me now.
If you work in the movie business, that's pretty much required.