Has anyone here actually acted on their escapist fantasies?

I guess I did before, out of necessity. I've told the story about how I left my abusive home to live with my Grandparents. And yeah, absolutely, it was a marked improvement in my life in every measurable way.

I kind of want to do it again simply as an excuse to get rid of all the stuff I've accumulated. I've had far too many hobbies and there's a lot of stuff I would need if I ever go back into it, but I honestly don't know if I ever will, so why am I holding on to everything? I want a house that is clean because I don't have anything to make a mess with. I also have a lot of stuff that I'm carrying for purely sentimental value, and I'm at a point where I realize that sentiment isn't actually that valuable. And beyond that I think I'm a different person than I used to be so not everything actually has the same sentiment to them.

I don't know if I would be able to do the more extreme versions of this, though - moving to a different country. To be honest, I don't know if there is any other country I'd actually like living in more; Canada and the UK are increasingly losing their lustre and I don't think I'd be able to get a resident visa in any of the European countries I'd like to live in (and honestly I don't want to learn any more languages - I know I would probably be fine as an English speaker in many nordic/germanic countries, but I'd feel compelled to learn anyways because I'll feel like a jerk if I didn't).

Basically every time I think I would be better off in another country, I just think to myself "I'm trading one set of problems for another" and that makes those thoughts go away.

Yes, actually. I'm in the middle of doing just that right now.

A few weeks ago I quit my job, sold my car, threw my stuff into storage, and booked a flight to the Big Island of Hawai'i to work on a farmstead. It was a move I had planned for some months before, but it didn't feel totally real until I bottle-fed a goat kid for the first time.

This was all precipitated by a deep existential crisis, in which I realized that I was wholly unsatisfied with the way I was living my day-to-day life. The skilled blue-collar, commuter worker lifestyle felt hollow to me, and had for a long time. I couldn't abide the fact that I made so little of what I consumed, that my routine and situation kept me from producing for myself and others. While I had (and still have) an incredible group of friends back on the mainland, I could no longer stand going to and from work every day and coming home too exhausted and in-a-rut to work on projects that actually interested me. I couldn't keep waking up in an ugly, soulless city and seeing glass and concrete everywhere. Severe managerial incompetence at my workplace did not help, either. When an opportunity to live a life like the one I had been dreaming of fell into my lap, I decided to take it.

For the last several years of my life, I have viewed homesteading as my end game. I realized that I could no longer wait to taste the lifestyle, or to learn the skills I would need to live the rest of my life.

So now, I live in the middle of the jungle. I sleep in a tent (for now), get regularly gnawed on by mosquitoes, and shit in a glorified bucket. But by god, do I love every second of it. I'm getting the best sleep I've had in years, eating quality food, and seeing the results of my hard work every day. So far I have zero regrets, and am quite certain that this is the sort of life that I want to live until I die.

I often think of this

I kinda did it: I quit my bussing job, managed to snag an internship in a field I'm interested in, and am finishing me degree next month, starting the job my internship led to in June. However, sort of like Internet Shaquille's manager becoming a stripper, or moving into the woods, it takes several things:

The means to support yourself on the gamble: I live at home, and don't pay any bills, as well as collecting that 1200 a month in unemployment for a year, so I could take the gamble. I have savings, and have managed to retain most of them. I do not currently have a car, and have the means to buy one cash-up-front, as well as a brother who is conveniently selling his old car. My mom also manages the apartment complex we live in, so I can manage to squeeze a little leeway out of the parking situation, maybe. Not to mention, I was only able to work the internship with the leeway I had because of a global pandemic.

I feel like these stories are more inspirational, or even just aspirational than they are actually helpful. I'm unable to give advice on how to get a job because I literally fell into it: My guidance counselor sent me a listing, had two super casual interviews which got me in, without my resume and cover letter even. I'm even living one, and imposter syndrome aside, it's very much "How the fuck did I wind up here?" and not in a good way.

The only thing I would say is find a goal and try to get there within your means.

EDIT: I feel like I'm being a bit of a wet blanket, but realize I've also got a good story that better represents a real-world example. My dad put himself through CNA school for a career change into medical that he'd wanted since he was college-age. The only resource he had was his girlfriend he had been living with for a few years helping with some of the rent, but their situation was closer to what would be real for somebody who wants to pivot: They had an established life, responsibilities, and more constraints than opportunities, and they managed to make it work by being careful in their approach, and jumping into the unknown once they were ready for it and it wasn't so unknown: They knew how to build the log cabin before moving into the woods, so to speak. My living situation is pretty poor, but theirs was actually poor, at least my dad's was considering both of their insistence on mostly split finances (groceries/rent/etc were shared as it made sense). They eventually moved to Oregon, which my dad had wanted to do since the 80s and he did some work up in the PNW, working in the same facility even.

Yep! After my first semester of college, I quit my job at a grocery store and moved from Indiana to Seattle with very little money and even fewer possessions. I had never even visited Seattle prior to moving there. I roomed with a friend I had never met in real life, but we had been friends online for a few years. I got a job as a web designer/developer, and aside from a 3-year stint as a copy shop clerk making minimum wage during the economic crash starting in ‘09, I’ve been one ever since.

Fun fact: this move was inspired by a song called “Seattle” by Jeffrey Lewis. I also considered moving to NYC, but I didn’t think I could cut it. I was probably right, since upon visiting for the first time, I did not think I’d like living there.

Yup, I moved countries, changed my job, changed my entire appearance, and changed my behavior.

I had this really weird idea when I was single, that a cool chick would come along and reinvent me into someone cool, and that is kind of what happened.

Yes, absolutely. I changed jobs, started going by a nickname, restarted college, and changed social circles. It gave me the freedom to be the person I wanted to be as opposed to the person anyone thought I was. It was immensely freeing. I had felt in a rut, stuck being someone I didn't really like. That total reset let me reinvent myself.