I fell for the promotion trap, then escaped

Nice article and spot on. People always want social validation, it's very common to make bad decisions simply to "look good" to others.

Also reminds me of a quote from Jim Coudal: "The reason that most of us are unhappy most of the time is that we set our goals-not for the person we're going to be when we reach them-we set our goals for the person we are when we set them." Priorities, goals, values change as we get older, and when we get there we're often a different person that values different things.

Hi Linda,

It's always wiser to make decisions that feel good to yourself rather than look good to others.

Sure, you might be able to brag/feel pride about 5% of the time, but you alone are stuck with the daily grind, the emotional struggles behind the scenes, the unsexy parts, 95% of the time.

Is the 5% of good times worth the 95% of bad times?

As you yourself have discovered, the answer is no.

It's like buying a Lamborghini Huracan that you can brag about every other weekend to random strangers on the street, but then 95% of the other time you're stuck with the massive payments, insurance, maintenance, service, worries about theft/damage, depreciation, etc. etc.