24-year-old corporate employee decides he wants to leave his job but doesn’t know what to do instead: ‘I’m already realizing that I really don’t want this to be my life for the next 30–40 years. The problem is…I don’t know what the alternative is.’

Author image for Olivia Arocena
Olivia Arocena • Writer and Editor
Sep 13, 2026 7:15 PM EDT

We all want to leave our day job, but we have to be realistic

Nobody directly told us it had to be like this, but in a way, we still complied. We went to school, we graduated relatively early, and then dived headfirst into corporate.

Before we even had time to consider if that's what we wanted to do, we were already working 9-to-5. There is no use in crying over spilled milk; we can't change the past. All we can do is avoid a dreadful, grey, corporate future.

It would be really easy if we all had a very clear calling from the get-go, but not all of us do. Some of us didn't have time to think about what we really wanted to do.

Still, having a well-paying job is something to be thankful for, because if you didn't have that but had a very clear calling instead, it wouldn't be as easy as it sounds to make enough money to sustain it.

If I were in this employee's shoes, I'd use the extra money I make from corporate to invest in anything I find pleasurable. I'd take my time to find my path in my free time, while I hold my stable income.

I trust that, at some point, after deep exploration, desire will come through and guide the way.

Of course, another alternative would be to simply invest in startups and look to retire early. The main issue is that it sounds boring, but well, if it's for the good money, so be it.

If you had to advise this young corporate employee: What would you do instead?

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  • Cheezburger Image 10662935040
    via charlesdeluvio

    How dull corporate life is

    Model representation

     

  • I don’t want to work corporate forever, but I have no idea what I’d do instead

    I'm 24 and recently started my first full-time corporate job after finishing grad school. I'm making around. $60-70k depending on overtime, and I'm already realizing that I really don't
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  • want this to be my life for the next 30-40 years. The problem is...I don't know what the alternative is. Money is important to me. I want financial freedom, I
    via Life-Ocelot6743
  • want to travel, eventually own investments/businesses, and have a comfortable life. So quitting a stable paycheck just because corporate life feels
    via Life-Ocelot6743
  • depressing doesn't exactly seem smart. I also don't have some obvious passion where I can say, "Screw corporate, I'm going to become a musician/photographer/ch ef/etc." The closest thing I
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  • have is content creation. I have a YouTube channel with around 7k subscribers and 8 million lifetime views. I've actually made some decent money from it at times, so I know there's something there.
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  • But it's nowhere near consistent enough for me to confidently turn it into a career, and I don't really know how I'd scale it enough to reliably replace (and eventually
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  • significantly exceed) my corporate income. So I feel stuck in this weird middle ground: I don't want the corporate life, but I also don't want to
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  • Cheezburger Image 10662927616
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Looking for freedom inside corporate

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  • be broke. I value money and financial security too. much to just quit without a plan. And I'm not even sure what I'm passionate enough about to build my life around.
    via Life-Ocelot6743
  • For people who successfully left corporate life: How did you figure out what to do instead? Did you build something on the side until it replaced your salary? Start a business? Become a
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  • creator? Take a lower- paying job that gave you more freedom? Did you actually discover a passion, or did you simply find a way of making money that you disliked less?
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  • I'm especially interested in hearing from people who didn't already know exactly what they wanted to do when they decided corporate life wasn't for them.
    via Life-Ocelot6743
  • MikeDaRucki Unless you have family money, get in early on a startup with a bunch of stock (and the startup succeeds) there isn't really a shortcut, man. There's risk and reward - all back stopped up by your work ethic.
    via MikeDaRucki
  • bigolcupofcoffee Whatever you do for work, start saving and investing now. You're young and time is on your side. If you want freedom in the future, plan for it now.
    via bigolcupofcoffee
  • Cheezburger Image 10662927872
    via Vitaly Gariev

    Everyone rooting for his YouTube channel

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  • He says he doesn't have a passion but he mentions he is a YouTuber on the side. I don't know about you, but I feel like he likes that, otherwise he wouldn't mention it. My question is, why not try and see where it goes? He doesn't have to leave his corporate job to do it.

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workplace-stories toxic-workplace work workplace toxic-work-environment
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