Readers respond to an article about quitting the rat race, with some saying their generation was handed an untenable position and others saying the struggle is nothing new
I can understand the disillusion expressed in Leila Latif’s article (The soft life: why millennials are quitting the rat race, 2 April). We’re conditioned to compete academically and then are turned into a world of work where the reality is a painful shock to the system. Many are robbed of our highfalutin dreams fast. The lucky few will find genuinely fulfilling work with remuneration to match.
It’s easy to work like a possessed being when you enjoy what you do and are purpose-driven. Working long hours, often unpaid, is an act of altruism that keeps the public sector afloat, as any clinician or teacher will confirm. It is much harder to sustain this in a role that you don’t enjoy, or that doesn’t align with your values: dissonance is destructive and the suffering will be your own.
