Ask Amber: Should I Quit My Job and Travel the World?

June 30, 2025

Question

Dear Amber

I recently watched The Life List on Netflix (side note it was a terrible movie, but it follows the journey of a girl who completes a bucket list she wrote when she was a teenager), and it sent me into a bit of a spiral. I’m getting closer to 30, and I can’t help but feel that I haven’t lived enough. I’ve been responsible for most of my twenties by working hard, saving money and making “smart choices.” But now I wonder if I should be throwing caution to the wind. Should I quit my job and travel the world? Say yes to doing more? I feel like I need to do more interesting and bold things before I get too old and boring. How do I figure out what I actually want instead of just panicking that I’m missing out?

Answer

Hey there,

While I haven’t seen The Life List, I get the idea, a young woman suddenly able to achieve everything she’s ever dreamed of since she was a teenager, all in the space of a few weeks. I can definitely see why the question of “should I quit my job and travel” would replay in your mind over and over. It taps into something we all feel as we get older: the pressure to have achieved a lifetime’s worth of goals by the time we hit 30. (Which, when you think about it, is a little ridiculous considering how many decades of adulthood we still have ahead of us, but somehow that number looms large anyway.)

Movies like this tend to stir up that ticking clock we all hear in the background, reminding us of everything we haven’t achieved yet. But often, I think the pressure doesn’t even come from our own true goals. While it would be amazing to do everything, it’s not possible in one lifetime, and honestly, most of it isn’t even what we really want deep down.

In a world where social media shows us a constant highlight reel of what everyone else is doing, it’s easy to get pulled into comparison, to wonder if we should have taken a different path. As 30 approaches, it can feel like we need to have it all figured out before it’s “too late.” But comparison is dangerous; it steals our ability to appreciate what’s already good and beautiful in our lives. One of my favourite reminders is: In your own life, you can never be early, and you can never be late. You’re always right on time.

It’s hard to hold onto that when everyone around you is on different timelines, chasing different dreams. But I want to challenge you to take a step back. Ask yourself: What do I really care about? If you imagined your ideal life, what are the things that matter most? Maybe even create a vision board or journal about it. When you get clear on what’s true for you, not what you see online, not what others expect, you can start setting goals that actually align with your real dreams.

And most importantly, slow down. There’s so much time ahead, and no decision is final. You have the power to change course whenever you want. Life isn’t a race it’s a journey, and it’s yours to shape.

Read more of Amber’s advice here.

Meet Amber Sargeant, The Modern Muse's resident psychologist, however, you might know her better as The Anxious Psych on TikTok or from her clinic The Sunshine Club Psychology. With a Masters of Professional Psychology, and a Masters of Psychology Practice (Clinical) under her belt, Amber works with all different kinds of presentations from anxiety and depression to personality disorders, ADHD, and everything in between. Her TikTok forms a community hub for accessible information about mental health and psychology in a way that is more approachable and understandable to the average person.