Former Wall Street trader gives up six figure salary for life of meditation
While most of us dream about climbing the corporate ladder, some people have a more, um, spiritual calling.
This includes one former Wall Street trader who gave up his six-figure salary to live in a Thai monastery.
Having spent months in quiet meditation, Harrison Hide has revealed why he gave up his lavish lifestyle.
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Many people might wonder why the TikToker would trade in his suit, especially after watching The Wolf of Wall Street.
For Harrison, however, it was a simple decision.
Having swapped Norwich for New York, the 28-year-old had quickly climbed the corporate ladder as a Wall Street trader.
While most movies would depict it as a glamorous lifestyle, Harrison soon found himself entertaining clients into the early hours and often came to work 'wearing the same clothes' as the night before.
Even the lure of a six-figure salary wasn’t enough to keep the Harrison from fleeing, as he watched his colleagues struggle to find a work-life balance.
The TikToker told the MailOnline that his co-workers would have ‘no time to see their kids’ and virtually ‘never left the office’.
It forced the Brit to reevaluate his life, adding: “The more my own time got taken up through work, the more I realised money is not the only measure of success.”
After four years of dealing with stocks and shares, he hung up his suit and began a wellness journey where he discovered a love of meditation along the way.
It happened after the TikToker travelled to northern Thailand, where he lived alongside the monks at the Wat Pa Tam Wua monastery.
Spending his days in silence, Harrison would meditate for hours, read Buddhist scriptures and live on a simple diet of ‘rice and slop’.
Despite this, the former trader found that his new lifestyle was much more his calling than the corporate world - though he did admit it was a ‘shock to the system’.
Harrison documented the life-changing experience and later shared it on social media, rapidly building a huge following of 19,000 users on TikTok.
However, Harrison's goal isn’t to become an internet sensation.
“Returning to normality after my time at the monestary was like viewing it through a different lens, the things that used to hold importance seemed trivial in the grand scheme of life,” he told his followers and later revealed his plans to set up a wellness centre in the UK.
“I am genuinely more happy right now, from an exterior perspective I have a lot less, but actually from my perspective, I have more.”
Though some people might still be ready to sell their souls, it seems Harrison has a different life purpose.
Katherine Sidnell