Leave a good job in the city... (Score 1)

Take a sabbatical. It may not work for everyone, but after 6-7 years of the rat race (doing research and IT in university environment, and teaching) my family and I "chucked it in" and went entry level dairy farming for a year. The pay was low and the hours long, but now I can build, weld, fence, birth and raise calves, drive a tractor, anything I like really. We didn't get ahead financially but we didn't lose out either (accomodation and some benefits like meat and milk are there to be bargained for, so you are still protecting and providing for your family). My kids got to see and do some amazing things we had never been able to show them in the city, and I emptied my brain of 10 years of education and mindless IT shit. I even got a book published (albeit a very small one). Now I am back in the rat race and my wife is back to teaching but we are getting paid about double what we were before and, having gone feral for a year, we actually appreciate certain aspects of the jobs we are now doing better than before. Do something different - drastically different. Job specialisation is for insects.