We all made choices and trade offs when starting our careers.

We each have individual talents, work ethics, and risk tolerances. We each made choices given our current situations, preferences and future outlooks.

Should I have taken a job with Amazon in 2010? Maybe. I can see what my initial and subsequent stock grants would be worth today, and I would have been in a position to not have to work anymore.

But I wasn’t particularly interested in the actual work, and not particularly interested in dedicating the necessary time and effort needed to last 8 years at Amazon. So those stock options would have never come to fruition.

My point is that it’s easy to look around us and find someone who seemingly has it better. It’s easy to find someone who seemingly makes more and works less. But often times, those same people were willing to invest time and effort when we weren’t, or were willing to risk more when we weren’t.

It sucks that not all promises are not always kept. But that’s certainly not unique to any profession.

I know that once my employer can find a replacement for me that is willing to do the same work for less compensation, I’ll be shown the door. So I try to better myself every day, provide more value every day, and prepare for the time when I’ll be shown the door.

I’m just saying that making narrow comparisons that shed a positive light on my individual situation while ignoring other factors is disingenuous. I’d love to have a pension worth the 80% average of my three highest paid years. I’d love to have a more time off to spend with my kids over Christmas, spring break and in the summer. But I made a trade-off for other things that I value.