winning the independent woman game

Hi,
I’m Alice. I’m almost 33 and I believe I successfully completed the “independent woman” game.

Few words about me: I come from a town in Poland, rather poor family, parents that divorced early.

When growing up, I was lured by the “independent woman” concept. Successful, beautiful, living the life she wanted, going wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted. That’s still the ideal for many, right?

Anyhow, I was admitted to the best economic college in Poland, moved to Warsaw and was becoming adult in some ways. I remember that my goal at that time was to earn 10k pln a month, which I guess in 2023 would be like 15? Not a huge amount, but enough to live comfortably, travel every now and then, and go out whenever I wanted.

Then I started working for a startup, money nowhere close to what I wanted, but a half time job, and a lot of time for classes. It I got me a new idea. My perfect scenario would be to earn the 10k, but working half time, so I had time to enjoy life and do other things.

Still in college, I got hired by Microsoft. It was 10k+ with taxes, but I really was earning 7-8k. I thought it was great. I haven’t even graduated at that time. I broke up with my (now ex) boyfriend, got myself a studio with a great view and was living a cool girl city life.

I worked there for 3,5 years. I was good and was getting progressively more money every year. The biggest highlight was when I was sent to US to…