See, I've actually found the opposite: I was much happier when I stopped pretending the large salary was actually enough to justify wasting a third of my life,

See, I've actually found the opposite: I was much happier when I stopped pretending the large salary was actually enough to justify wasting a third of my life, and just worked at the library on a cheap laptop while helping a friend build his house to cover bills. People also like me a lot better now that I don't hate a third of my life, am not trying to compensate for that with money, and have a certain zest from getting to genuinely work on things I'm passionate about. YMMV, as some passions are more expensive than mine to get in to, but my point was that there's a spectrum of reasonable reactions to work-life balance, and the choice needs to be individual.