Can a job feel like a cage?
It might sound exaggerated, but for many people in high-income countries like Switzerland, it quietly becomes reality.
Once we land a well-paid role, our lifestyle tends to grow with it. Suddenly the nicer apartment feels normal, designer clothes are “standard,” dinners in trendy restaurants become routine, and luxury holidays are the reward for surviving another intense quarter. You might know that colleague who is always counting down the days to the next vacation. Often, spending becomes a way to compensate for the stress and dissatisfaction we feel in our day-to-day work life.
The tricky part is: once we’ve built this lifestyle, it becomes hard to imagine living with less. The high salary is no longer a bonus; it feels like a necessity. Without noticing, we’ve constructed a golden cage for ourselves; comfortable, polished, and very hard to step out of. Many people stay in roles that drain them because the idea of earning less feels terrifying. Bit by bit, we trade in our freedom to choose a path that truly fits us for the security of the familiar.
I know this pattern well because I’ve been there. I had a high-earning, high-pressure job that brought me a lot of learning, opportunities, and financial security. At the same time, I often caught myself daydreaming about a different life and admiring people who seemed to live in closer alignment with their values. I had created a very comfortable standard of living where money was never a concern, and I told myself I would be naïve to give that up after working so hard to get there.
So I kept going. I booked beautiful holidays, bought nice things, and told myself this was what success looked like. Yet I still remember trips where, even in the most idyllic places, a part of me was already dreading going back to work. The luxury was there, but the inner calm and fulfilment were not.
Over time, I started to realise that the external comfort didn’t compensate for the internal mismatch. What I truly longed for was work that felt meaningful, that aligned with my values, and that gave me more freedom and flexibility in how I live my life. The turning point was understanding that I didn’t have to choose between stability and fulfilment forever, but I did have to be honest with myself about what mattered more.
True freedom begins when we understand that we don’t need luxury to be happy. It can be a wonderful extra, but it shouldn’t come at the price of our wellbeing, health, or sense of purpose. We are allowed to question whether our current job still fits us. We are allowed to redesign our lifestyle so that it supports us, instead of trapping us. We are allowed to take a serious look at that passion project we’ve been parking “for later” and ask: What if I gave this a real chance?
Interestingly, when people choose a path because they genuinely enjoy it and feel connected to its purpose (rather than chasing money alone), they often end up doing better financially in the long run. Think of those founders who became unexpectedly successful because they were deeply obsessed with solving a problem or creating something meaningful. Their primary driver wasn’t “getting rich”; it was devotion, curiosity, and commitment. The financial rewards followed as a side effect.
Closing thoughts
The point is not that everyone should quit their job and move to a cabin in the mountains. For some, their current role is aligned and energising – and that’s wonderful. For others, it may simply be about making small, conscious adjustments: lowering financial pressure, redefining what “enough” means, or carving out space for projects that light them up.
The golden cage only stays a cage as long as we don’t question its walls. The moment we start looking at our relationship with money, status, and security with honesty and compassion, we open up new options. We can thank our past choices for what they gave us, and still allow ourselves to move toward a life and career that feel more like us.