I dropped out of my PhD in the US.
100% scholarship.
Handsome stipend.

Yet, because I was not happy, I decided to quit.

Someone asked me the other day (almost 18 years after that happened), “Would you still drop out if you had sponsored your education, instead of it being on a scholarship?”

It got me thinking.
No one had ever asked me this question before.

And the answer is no.

I would not have quit.

I come from very humble backgrounds.
Not born with a silver spoon.
Hand-to-mouth existence for the longest time

So affording an international education in itself would have been a dream come true, which I would not have abandoned.

That is why, I suggest everyone make their life decisions based on their own life.

You are not living my life.
I am not living your life.
And you are certainly not living any influencer’s life.

Your life. Your choices.
Use the content you see online to get inspired. Not to mimic.
And you will be more than fine :)