Pearl - December 28, 2025
Woman Quits 6 Figure Job FOR NO REASON
Episode Stats
Words per minute
210.40974
Harmful content
Misogyny
14
sentences flagged
Hate speech
6
sentences flagged
Summary
After quitting a $250k per year job, Jess Terri van Veen talks about why she regrets it and what she regrets most about quitting her job. She talks about how her time away from work helped her become a more present mother and rethink her relationship with money. She is now seeking a job that aligns with her values and promotes a healthy work-life balance.
Transcript
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again women get these overpaid jobs they get these big egos thinking that we're more competent than
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we are and we're just not what up guys welcome to my reaction series today we're reacting to a
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woman talking about quitting her 250 000 a year job and regretting it can you imagine as a man
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quitting a job that makes 250k um i just can't imagine a guy doing that he would just put up
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whatever whatever he needs to put up with but women we just are never happy i quit a 250 000
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a year job thinking it would be easy to find another one after a year of unemployment i wish
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i could go back and shake myself so this is what she looks like and that's kind of your typical
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like oh it's of course a human resources career of course and i bet they were happy to see her go
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because a lot of times these women are employed in these companies and they're not really pulling
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their weight and so they're that's a huge expense on a company um and they don't want to go through
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like the hassle of firing people because they don't want a claim or whatever um so anyways i
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think that this is good so after quitting a 250 000 a year hr job jess terry vaughn is coming up
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on a year of unemployment time away from work helped her become a more present mother and
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rethink her relationship with from and reach oh my gosh time away from work helped her become
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a more present mother and rethink her relationship with money she is now seeking a job that aligns
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with her values and promotes a healthy work-life balance so again women getting money generally is
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easy and men getting money is generally hard so men understand that when you make a certain amount
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of money there's no such thing as like a work-life balance but women do not understand this um and
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they will whine and complain even if they're overpaid this as told to essay is based on a
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conversation with jesse terry von a 39 year old former hr executive based in vancouver washington
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it's been edited for length and clarity when i quit my 250 000 a year hr job last year i thought
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the reality of finding another job would be no big deal i was out of touch with the reality of
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the job market i hadn't applied i hadn't applied to a job in a non-traditional way in over a decade
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because i'd always been recruited now that it's rounding up on a year of unemployment i wish i
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I could go back and shake myself. So again, she's getting old and ugly. And women have no idea how
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much opportunity is given to us because we're young and beautiful. It's why we invest so much
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in plastic surgery. It's why we invest so much in the gym. Again, a lot of times women, we're
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under this illusion that our opportunity is because we work hard. And you'll see women cope
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with this. Oh, I worked so hard. And I'm not saying women don't, but just compared to a man,
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it's just not the same at the same time my time away from work has finally allowed me to be a
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present mother and confront my strained relationship with money i'm getting ready to go back to work
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but i plan to make a few changes i knew it was time to leave when my values no longer align with
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the companies i identified early on in my career that i was good at work and i let my productivity
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and achievement become my identity there are many times throughout my decade-long career in hr when
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i tried to take a step back and be less intense but i think i had an addiction to the dopamine
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that came from the stress. Translation, I love harassing people at work. Somebody's got to nag
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these men about talking and it's going to be me. When my daughter was born, my husband became her
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main caregiver and I became the sole provider for our family. In 2023, I was promoted to the
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director of people experience at my dental company. I love the diversity of my job's responsibilities,
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the salaries in my team, and I stayed for months. The straw that broke the camel's back when I came
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back was i was in direct opposition with my boss about something that made me realize i wasn't the
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right person to person for the job i made a commitment to myself that would never that i
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would never stay in a role where i was compromising my values so again men understand in the work
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environment it's not really about your values it's about getting the job done um but women again we
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think we're more important than we are at work and we don't realize how replaceable we are
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so again women get these overpaid jobs they get these big egos thinking that we're more competent
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than we are and we're just not um i didn't wake up that day thinking i was going to quit but
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something about the day made me feel like i couldn't take it anymore after i quit i took a
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break that backfired but i don't have any regrets i have a little bit too much hubris thinking it
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would be easy to find my next role so i didn't start applying to jobs until january of this year
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I was out of touch with reality. As a healthcare recruiter, I saw an almost constant shortage of
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workers, so I thought it would be the same for the HR industry. From January to April, I applied for
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jobs, wrote professional cover letters, reached out to past co-workers, sent LinkedIn messages,
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and did everything I could to secure a new role. But it felt like my applications went into the
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abyss. It was very humbling. I don't have any regrets and feel that everything worked out as
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it should, but I wish I had looked at the job market in my field and started applying sooner.
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Quitting made me realize I hadn't been a present mother. I used to think I was the most present
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mother I could be. I'd stop working at five and I put on a smile to play with my daughter,
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but I was still mentally going through it as I, but I was still mentally going through everything
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I had done that day. I was available, but I wasn't present. So again, women don't want to
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be mothers. Women would rather have a HR job than be a mother. Women would rather have Juanita in
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daycare watch their kid rather than watch their own. Since quitting my job, I'm finally able to
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give my six-year-old daughter what she needs. Me fully immense in her world, playing, being silly,
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and not just being physically next to her. Kids are intuitive and I feel like she's noticed a
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difference. I've learned to stop using money to deal with stress. When I was earning a $250k
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salary, I'd cope with a stressful day by ordering something from Amazon, buying myself a little
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treat, or doing a Target run. I justify it by saying it's just a sweater from Target. It's not
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a designer purse. I didn't realize I was spending money to distract myself from stress. Now that I
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don't have access to disposable funds, I have found other ways to deal with stress. I've gotten
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into coloring, painting, and even doing my own nail art. I'm not overly artistic or talented at
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any of those things, but they're cathartic and allow me the satisfaction of seeing something
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through to completion without pressure. I've also built a community of friends over this time. I go
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walking some mornings with a neighbor who has kids in the same school as mine. It's good for physical
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health, mental health, and connection. My time away helped me realize I'm so much more than how
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productive I am in a day and how much I can contribute to my company. So the translation
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of this is really a woman realizing that she's not as important as she thought. A lot of women
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really overestimate just how useful and actually productive we are i'm ready to work again but i
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have boundaries i'm translation i'm never going to get another job although it's nice and relaxing
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to stay home in color i miss working i miss feeling productive like i've accomplished something
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that is tangible and in the service of others i also miss the daily social connection that i had
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at work i'm ready to work again and need to work again to provide for my family but i guess i've
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become disenchanted with corporate america i don't want to go back to an office from
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nine to five or have to send my daughter to a daycare instead of spending the day with her
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i'm not even seeking balance just a job that won't systemically conflict with motherhood
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mental health and life i may be idealistic but i'm no longer willing to sell my soul for work so
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i don't think mothers realize how much they're missing until they're home full-time i don't know
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if any of maybe the two women that watch me i don't know if any of you have gone from like
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working full-time to quitting but i was in a situation growing up where like i had nannies
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and stuff and sometimes the closest person you are like the person you're the closest to is the nanny
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um and i don't know if the parents are always aware because they're so stressed out i mean i
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was one at 10 right i mean we had to be everywhere i i don't even blame them but they don't realize
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all the little things they're missing like when i was a kid i just remember getting out of school
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and like going to see the pickup you know school pickup and i was just like praying it was my mom
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or my dad i'm like please be my mom or my dad it was always the nanny no offense to the nannies you
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guys did a good job but it just you know wasn't the same so and those are like actually my favorite
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memories with my parents is when they did come to my basketball and volleyball games and they would
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drive me home from the games and i just loved like being there with them like i love talking about
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like it's just something different when the parents are like involved in the day-to-day you
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know because i mean there were times when i during my childhood where my parents were more involved
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and less involved like obviously 18 years is a long time and they had a business so like there
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were ups and downs but yeah i just remember oh my gosh one time i had a nanny i hated i i faded this
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nanny and i just remember getting out of school and being like oh please god not her not her
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Anyways, guys, make sure you like the video, subscribe to the channel, and I'll see you next time.