Hard work leads to stress, reduced creativity, regrets later on in life, and perhaps ultimately just holds you back. Why do we all aspire to work harder?

Where are you from originally? Like every “visible minority” I’m often asked this rather ambiguous, and perhaps completely meaningless question. Ultimately – who cares?

In the last 10 months I’ve experienced a near lifetime of bucket-list items – I had the opportunity to experience Carnaval in Brazil, hot air ballooning over Cappadocia, explore the post-nuclear disaster city of Chernobyl, take a speedboat through Iguazu Falls, and witness Diwali preparations in India. And yet the question I get asked most regularly is “when are you going to settle down?”

In September 2012 I had what most would consider a very comfortable life – a stable government job, a condo in Toronto I had purchased a few years prior, an active social life, great salary, and a very defined path for the future of my life. I had no debt, wasn’t bored with life, had virtually no stress, and was overall a very happy person. Six months later I decided to give it all up.