I left an engineering job at a large, well known company I had been
at for 18 years. Management was horrible and stressing everyone on purpose.
Was commuting between the USA and Scotland on a project to help one
lady climb the ladder. Finally, after getting passed up for a raise basically
told them to stuff it. Had planned to take a year off to decompress and
just basically enjoy myself. Two weeks later another engineer I knew asked
if I'd help him with his consulting business, which in the course of a year
I took over. Didn't know it but he had cancer (melanoma).
Long story short, never worked more than 20 hrs/week and made as much
in 5 years as I did in 18 at the sweat shop. A happy ending! Now fully retired.