My husband and I built careers in tech and law. In our 40s, we sold our house, traveled for a year, and left both industries.

"We were both hustling and climbing the corporate ladder - he in the tech industry, and I at a law practice. Then, in 2022, Dave got laid off, and we lost our two dogs to cancer. That's when we had the harrowing realization that the life we'd spent yearsbuilding no longer fit us. Our home now felt far too big, and we felt lost and restless. We desperately needed a change - but first, a change of scenery."

"Our travel goals were simple - see a lot of places, think about what to do with our lives when we returned to the US, and spend time with animals along the way. Though we're ambitious, we've always found that spending time around animals forces us to slow down. It's a lesson we'd learned after adopting our dogs, who always seemed happy just to be, sans any hustle."

By their 40s, the couple owned a large home outside Boston and worked high-pressure corporate jobs. In 2022, the husband was laid off and both of their greyhounds died, prompting a reassessment. They sold their house, used severance and remote income to travel worldwide for a year, staying on a farm near Dublin and spending time with animals to learn to slow down. Travel taught them to prefer a slower pace. Upon returning to the US, they bought a smaller home and left their stressful industries for a simpler lifestyle.

Read at Business Insider