> These stories are popular I don't see them much, nor does my comment match this story, nor did I post it because of some popularity. > they are (on average)

> These stories are popular I don't see them much, nor does my comment match this story, nor did I post it because of some popularity. > they are (on average) less fulfilling than simply having any somewhat high-paying job that offers security for oneself and one's family. That's a misleading comparison: If you hold all other variables stable, of course a higher-paying job is better. But all other variables aren't stable; we need to make trade-offs. Your argument so far is that somehow the choice you would make must be the choice that would make most people happier. Also, you've provided no basis for saying that most would prefer or do better one way or another. > a social formality we perform as polite society because we perceive it as needless to have people constantly reminded that they did not achieve as much as they could have. They did achieve, but different things on a different scale. It's like a basketball player saying that a hockey player, not having a good jump shot, didn't achieve as much as they could have. They are playing different games. People in 'polite society' - i.e., people who made choices like yours - tend to have the narrow-minded belief that theirs is ipso facto the preferred way. It's especially a bias of people following a social norm - nothing challenges their belief, the norm supports it. I can't read your mind, but that seems to be the basis of your argument. Speaking as someone outside a significant social norm, it's as if one day I made a 90 deg right turn off the highway and hit the accelerator. I am going far and fast; people still on the highway say, 'they're not getting anywhere'. It's annoying and a bit isolating; it's a trade-off but that's the choice I preferred, and there's not a moment's doubt in my mind about my direction. In fact, I think many of them would benefit from joining me (or taking their own roads), but 99% can't imagine a world outside their social norms, they can't see there's anything on the landscape but that one narrow highway. What a fool I would be, what a waste it would be, to let their reactions dictate my life.