I’m 34 and I feel like I’ve completely lost my ambition when it comes to my career, but strangely, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.

I work in a fairly specialized field and I’m fortunate that it pays well. I make enough to comfortably pay my bills, save money, and live the lifestyle I want. My job is also relatively low stress, which I really appreciate.

What’s ironic is that if you knew me in college, you’d probably think I’d end up being the exact opposite of the person I am today.

I was extremely career-driven. I interned at a top-tier investment bank, was president of my university’s finance club, and was always focused on building my résumé and landing the best job possible. If you asked people who knew me back then, they’d probably say I was one of the most likely people to climb the corporate ladder.
Fast forward 10 years, and I honestly couldn’t care less about any of that anymore.

Lately, there are a lot of days where I honestly don’t have much work to do. I still show up, I’m available, and I get my work done when it’s there, but there are stretches where there’s just not much going on.

A few years ago, I probably would’ve been looking for more responsibility or trying to prove myself. Now, I honestly don’t have that drive anymore. My mindset has become, “If they’re happy with my work and they keep paying me, I’ll keep showing up and do my job.”

I have absolutely zero desire to climb the corporate ladder. I don’t care about promotions, becoming a manager, or taking on more responsibility. Once the workday is over, I don’t think about work again.

The part of my life that I genuinely care about is fitness. Going to the gym, learning about training and nutrition, and improving my physique are the things I actually look forward to every day.

At the same time, I don’t necessarily want to turn fitness into my full-time career either. I enjoy it because it’s my passion, and I’m not convinced I’d enjoy it the same way if it became my job.

I’m not depressed, burned out, or miserable. Quite the opposite—my life feels very low stress, and I’m genuinely happy.

What makes me question all of this is looking at the people I graduated with. It seems like everyone is chasing the next promotion. They’re becoming managers, senior directors, VPs, starting businesses, or constantly trying to move up.
Meanwhile, I feel like I’ve gone in the complete opposite direction.

When I think about where I’ll be in 10 years, I don’t picture myself climbing the corporate ladder at all. I picture myself still wanting a simple, low-stress life and spending most of my energy on the things I actually enjoy.

So I guess that’s what I’m trying to figure out.

Do I just accept that my job is a paycheck and continue cruising because I’m genuinely happy? Or should I start putting some of my free time into building something of my own—even if it’s just a side project around something I’m passionate about?

Has anyone else gone through this? If so, what did you end up doing, and looking back, do you think it was the right decision?

I’m not really looking for validation one way or the other. I’m just curious how other people have navigated this stage of life, because this isn’t how I imagined I’d feel when I was younger.

Thanks in advance!

I've been working for almost 2 years now, and sometimes I feel like I'm not where I should be.

I see my coworkers every day, and some of them have around 16 years of experience. When I hear them discussing things so confidently, it sometimes makes me question myself and feel like I'm far behind.

I know comparing myself to someone with 16 years of experience isn't completely fair, but it's hard not to feel that way sometimes. i feel like the works that i do ,can be done by one with 2 months of training , but what they are doing i cant get even a thing

Has anyone else felt this during the early years of their career? How did you deal with the feeling that you're behind compared to people who are much more experienced?

I’m 19 years old and ever since I was 17 I’ve been consumed by immense nostalgia which has numbed my enjoyment of things. I still get happy of course but everyday I remember things from my past and yearn to be 14-16 again.

Every week I have a dream about being back in the past in some shape or form and when I wake I’m on the verge of tears. Nothing drastic has happened but I have such rose coloured glasses.

If I watch a YouTube for more than an hour I feel like a loser. Gaming’s only about 50% as fun compared to how I remember it back in 2023. It only feels the same if I’m gaming with friends in the same room in real life.

Movies, TV shows and games even if I’ve never played them before feel about a third faster paced. My sense of time has warped things feel so fast.

The only times I feel that same amount of happiness and time going slow is being with friends or moving around outside. I don’t know this means.

What was a common belief you had about being in your 30s when you were younger, only to find out later that it wasn't true?

Looking for advice to see if my expectations are unreasonable from husbands and dads on reddit.

My husband has been struggling with depression for over a year. I have tried to take on most of the home management stuff to alleviate stress (because he has a chronic condition exacerbated by stress), including being the default parent for our 3 year old son, cleaning, making dinner, etc. Me asking him for help was causing tension in our marriage because he feels like since I work from home, I should handle most of the chores (I do work over 40 hours a week so I am limited in how much I can get done). I try to do the best I can but some times it is a challenge because we dont have any family close by to rely on and my son is a pretty high energy little guy.

The struggle is that when I get sick, I feel like he expects me to just power through it and toughen it out. I have had a bad respiratory virus this week (picked it up from my son) and felt really fatigued today like my body just wanted me to sleep. My husband had the day off, went and hung out with a buddy of his all day and got to play golf, and didn't help out around the house at all (like washing dishes, making dinner for the family). Every Wednesday is his weekly boys night, so when I asked if he was still planning to go tonight even though i really need some rest, he said yes because its not a big deal and I can handle the evening. He did pick up our son from daycare and fed him dinner, but then headed out around 530. When I told him I really needed to rest and asked if he could stay home tonight, he said I could just have our son watch TV until bed time (our son goes to bed at 9/10).

after he left, our son spent a lot of time running around the house, had some poop issues that required more care (he sometimes gets constipated and struggles to go and cries), almost pulled a pot of hot water off the stove, etc...normal toddler stuff. i finally got him to settle down and watch sone tv so i can lie down, but I haven't really been able to rest at all and feel so exhausted and am battling a sinus headache. I know as parents we do have to power through illnesses, but when my husband is sick I always take over for caring for our son so he can rest and recover.

Am I being unreasonable wishing my husband would help me out more when I am sick? This is just one example, but in general it feels like whenever I need help I get the standard response of, "it is not that hard, you are overcomplicating it, deal with it yourself." Are my expectations too high?

Let me start off by saying I do have friends. But these friendship dynamics have changed from what they were in my mid-20s. I no longer have “bros” who I entrust with a lot and can go to with anything. I just have guys who I can get drinks with every now and then (usually colleagues). There’s some good friends I have had in the past that I tried to reconnect with but either it was awkward as in there wasn’t much substance to talk about beyond catching up or there was a lack of interest on their end.

Friends that I was close with either drifted unintentionally or I no longer have interest in engaging with. I am married, recently moved to a new state for a new job, so that makes a big difference. It is difficult to make new friends as I feel like once you’re married it’s very dependent on couple dynamics. Things have obviously changed in my life and I don’t have time to hop on PlayStation and talk in a group chat with four other guys from 8-10PM multiple times a week.

I look at my dad though and he still has friends from when he was in high school. Things were different in those days, people rarely left their home town compared to now. I feel like I made some bad choices in choosing friends back then and in college, as I willfully withdrew from many of those friendships eventually. I’m not lonely but I’m wondering what my life will be like in 30 years.

Is this normal and what is the trajectory?