An Architect's Story of Professional Work Burnout, Career Change, and Finding Purpose Through Travel.
If you are sitting at your office desk or at home looking out the window thinking 'there is more to life than this' then I want to tell you a story about why I quit my professional career as an architect to travel north and south America. Its a story of burnout, mental health deterioration, a loss of self worth and a disenchantment with my career path. Its the story of a lost human trying to find some sort of meaning in this world we live in.
Its also a story of human connection, rejuvenation, happiness and a level of excitement about the future. Most importantly, it is a lesson in self care.
So if you are one of the aforementioned people sitting around thinking f**k it all. Then let me take you with me on this complex journey.
Part 1 - There is more to life than this.
As the sun painted the otherworldly landscape of Colombia's Tatacoa desert, I found myself fighting back tears and choked up with emotion. Not from sadness, but from a profound realisation that would forever change how I viewed my life.
Six months earlier, I had been another burned-out architect in a rural English village, designing spaces for others while my own life felt increasingly confined. Now, watching the light transform the desert's sculpted valleys into a masterpiece no architectural drawing could capture, everything shifted into perspective.
I was (and still am) good at architecture; that was never the question. Like many architects, my days had followed a well-drawn pattern: morning coffee before opening emails to a barrage of questions from clients and/ or contractors and a countdown to when my phone would ring with the first problem of the day. After the conversations about how to fix the problems my headphone would go on and I would try to be productive (usually through drawing production). This would be interrupted by more calls from clients. The bottom line for this profession is generally as much space as possible for as cheap as possible, design quality comes second place. All those beautiful little features you feel will make a big difference to the quality a space are simply value engineered out.
Client meetings, planning submissions, and endless negotiations fighting for design whilst listening to the wants and needs of a client. Its a fine balancing point for architects. I would personally say that a lot of us go into this profession to design beautiful spaces, however when a client is paying your wages, you have to remove your ego and become 'their' designer. Not only this, the design aspect takes up a remarkably small aspect of the job. Talking to contractors, clients and authorities takes up the rest. The rule book for planning permissions is vast and complex and even more so are the construction regulations we have to design to. Its something a lot of people do not realise but when we design, we have to ensure you are conferable, and safe. We have to make sure the building is efficient and 'sustainable'. We have to make sure the building on site is not a total cowboy and ensure they are hitting the required standard. You constantly and always have to be on the very top of your game as the buck stops with you. You take the liability if a drawing is wrong which creates a culture of you vs them rather than collaboration.
The worst part of it all is the average wage of the job given the 5 years at university 2 in work (as an 'assistant') and a further year of evening lectures that include a contract law exam, running a practice exam, a 15,000 word case study showing your competence and an 'interview' at the end of it all! We are the most overqualified individuals in the UK working for a wage that is less than the plumbers and electricians.
For architects considering leaving the profession, this might sound familiar. Fighting battles with planning officers over proposals and mediating between clients and builders, watching our artistic visions get squeezed through the narrow funnel of practicality and profit.
I had qualified and was cutting my teeth in London. I was brought up on building sites which left me with a bit of a sense of imposter syndrome and as a young architect attempting to ensure I did not put a foot wrong and get fired, whilst feeling the weight of responsibility to the health and safety of all those who ever set foot into a building you are working put me in a state of constant vigilance. The constant vigilance is draining and architecture from the earliest opportunity point possible (the undergraduate degree) creates a culture of 'suffer for your art'. Its something I am writing a book on so stay tuned! Living in London at the end of each month the rent and bill evened out to give me a few hundred pounds a month to 'have some fun with' or drop into a savings account. A few years into the daily routine that phrase started to bounce around my head, 'there is more to life than this'.
An opportunity came up back home, a building project with the family. Following the passing of my grandfather we would develop the small farm house home on a 4 acre plot that he had lived in for generation, turning it into a luxurious marvel worthy of the beautiful plot it sat upon.
I spent the next two years of my life helping to create an award-winning home, combining my architectural expertise with the building skills I'd inherited from my father (and from a plastering apprenticeship I had taken before going to university). Each day brought new challenges: balancing plasterboard on my head, installing soffits from precarious tower scaffolds, sleeping on a mattress on a bare floor with boarded-up windows for security. I remember one winter night, huddled in multiple layers and gloves, thinking about how far removed this was from the glamorous architect's life I'd imagined. By this point I was 30, if you had asked a younger version of me where I would be by 30 years old, I would have believed as a very minimum that I would own my own home. Yet its just the way my cards have played out and the only person I hold responsible for where I am is myself.
On completion of the family project covid had forced my hand back into the world of architecture. It was exactly the same routine as before just in a different location.
The final breaking point wasn't dramatic; it was quieter, more insidious, slowly, one day at a time things seem to feel more and more difficult, more exhausting (it was not purely the work but other circumstances too).
For architects feeling that work burnout, it often starts this way. One morning, I realised I couldn't summon the energy to make my morning coffee and the though of opening my inbox made my whole body feel heavy. Like many experiencing professional work burnout, I was simply fading. Life was like living in a padded cell, I was numb to everything around me. The only relief from the cage of my numbness were the rounds of golf with friends, to this day I do not think my friend new how much these were keeping me going. It was a disappointing state of affairs as I used to be such a happy and optimistic person, but battles with the profession and disagreements with my family left me entirely hollow and questioning whats the point.
If this is life then it sucks.
The crazy thing is if you had looked at me from the outside you would likely see an overachieving architect who has everything going for them. Yet that was just not the reality, it was a dark time and something had to change.
Part 2 - The First Step Is The Hardest.
When the borders finally opened in February 2022, Mexico wasn't so much a choice as it was an escape hatch; one of the few countries welcoming travellers in a world still reeling from Covid. Finally the day arrived, my parents dropped me off at the hugged me goodbye and with 2 bags I walked into the airport. Naturally my journey from architect to backpacker began with what felt like another test of resolve. A delayed flight, a stop at customs that left my heart racing, I managed to rip my trousers! And during a bag search the customs officer did not put my portable charger back in my bag (I realised and went back for it)! The delay meant the buses to Tulum would be stopped for the night, and a poor bit of miss communication on my part meant my immigration tourist stamp was for just 12 days! I spent that first night in a sterile Cancun hotel room, I looked more skeleton than person, and was left wondering if leaving architecture and the UK was a catastrophic mistake! Looking at the video, you will see a pretty unhealthy looking guy. This will change by the end of this blog!
But then came day two.
Waking up in Cancun, I was eager to get to the hostel I should have been at the previous night. I grabbed my gear, said fair well to a Scottish gentleman (Ian) I had met at the airport and shared a cab with to Cancun from the airport. Ian has since passed but speaking in the airport I had said the last bus to Tulum will be gone by the time we get there, he cheerfully said,
"I am staying at a hostel in Cancun, jump in a taxi with me, I am sure they will have beds"
He checked, they did. The first act of kindness from a gentlemen simply helping for the sake of helping, thanks Ian!
The next morning I grabbed my bags early, I had arranged to meet Ian around 8am so I could get one of the first buses to Tulum. Ian wanted to take the walk so he could find the station and familiarise himself with Cancun. At the entrance we shook hands said goodbye and good luck.
I will never forget walking into that first hosel in Tulum. Exhausted and uncertain, I was greeted by a girl with electric blue eyes and an energy that would light the darkest room.
"Heyyyyyy, welcome to the hostel, how are you?" she beamed. In that moment, that simple human connection, I knew I'd made the right choice. It sounds cliché but its the gods honest truth. That happiness and radiance this girl had hit me in the heart and in my soul, it felt like the first day of summer after a long dark winter.
I had booked 5 days in this hostel (which can be considered a long time in backpacking circuits, but what followed was a crash course in the kind of connections I'd been starving for. A Swede and a fellow Brit became my unexpected traveling companions for the next several weeks. As I mentioned I had made a hiccup with my immigration forms giving me just 12 days in Mexico.
The Swede had said he would be heading to Guatemala in the few days time and the Brit was making his way to Nicaragua. Belize a sticking point due to covid we banded together to tackle the Mexico - Guatemala border a few days later from Bacalar. Whilst Tulum and Bacalar has been a lot of fun the adventure I was looking for was about to begin.
The Journey South
The journey south from Mexico became a lesson in letting go of control; something architects aren't exactly famous for. On that first local bus to Flores, Guatemala, squeezed between my travel companions and locals going about their daily lives, I felt as though the journey had really begun. The people who hopped on and off the bus included a preacher, who took the opportunity to read the bible passionately to the whole shuttle, elderly ladies carrying their washing and shopping, younger locals heading to work. Everyone looking at us at they hopped on, the three foreigners in the back end of Guatemala, each with curious but friendly eyes and big smiles. We were so far from home, it was hot, it was uncomfortable and that was exactly the point.
The border we crossed (El Ciebo) is much less used by the backpacker who usually goes first to Belize then to Guatamala. So we three were really an unlikely sight in this part of Guatemala.
Each new destination peeled away another layer of my life. Exploring the ancient architecture of Tikal showed me how truly timeless design could be. Hiking Acatanango reminded me of the power of planet earth and the joy of a challenging hike and an early start. I swam in the bluest of waters, partied late into the night. Spotted animals from slothes to pink wales. Each location brought new friends all of whom had their own stories and challenges which made me feel less alone. It also helped me put my own issues and problems into perspective.
I met locals from each country who were happy. There homes small but they had their families around them. These families seemed far happier than the people of London, where a smile at a stranger is met with a frown and god forbid you catch someones eye on public transport! This itself a lesson in how we view others. Who are the real winners the people who have there family and a community around them or those living in a cold hard city where even your neighbours are strangers!? Apologies that was a loaded question!
Being on the road and around these happy locals confirmed something that had always been in the back of my own mind. Money does not mean success, your title and job does not mean success, the way you treat others and interact with them is the true definition of success (at least that my definition of it). Of course there is a balancing point here but studies have shown that money helps with happiness up to a point of 'basic needs covered'. Those I have said eluded to above, food, water and shelter. If you have these what is the rest? Bragging rights?
From surfing and yoga in Nicaragua to meeting the Guna Yala in Panama's San Blas islands, and learning how the locals of Communa 13 are reinventing their own future, each step took me further from the lost soul I'd been, and closer to who I wanted to become.
Part 3 - Redesigning Life One Country at a Time
Skipping through 4 months ... by the time I reached Medellín, I was moving with a confidence and happiness I hadn't felt in years. Taking the road less traveled to the Tatacoa desert, without another backpacker in sight, I felt a pride that no architectural award could (or will) ever match.
So here I was, standing in the Tatacoa desert, watching the sun paint the otherworldly landscape in reds and cactus greens, everything crystallised. The warm air, the impossibly blue sky, the perfect transition from day to night as stars emerged in a pollution-free sky; it was nature at its very best. The tears came not from sadness but from relief and revelation. I realised I didn't need to be trapped in a room until god-knows-what-hour, chasing deadlines and others' definitions of success. I needed to be gentler with myself, to value time over money, to rid myself with people who measured wealth in bank balances and judge others for it. All this seemed to manifest itself in this moment. Its a moment I carry with me everywhere now. I still have bad days, we all do right!? But without the bad you cannot appreciate the good. Perhaps this moment for me was the peak of a mountain. I had been so down, stuck in my own head for so long and standing in that desert with all the people and travel that had proceeded it, I felt as though the shrink wrapping around my brain had been removed and I was just allowed to ... breath.
Everything could look different going forwards. My life could be what I fashion it to be. That one moment and one realisation made backpacking the most important thing I had ever done. Here in a blog of a few thousand words I will never be able to explain the total extent of that monumental moment, but the transition was a journey in itself. I looked happy whilst travelling and I hope the people who I met would say I was fun to be around, but I was still carrying a mental load and that mental load seemed to finally release itself here in the Tatacoa Desert. I was as far away from home as I had ever been, I was in a strange and beautiful land where no one new who I was, I could only just talk to people with the Spanish I had been learning along the way but none of it mattered. In this moment, everyone was just here to enjoy the view, a smile with the handful of people on the viewpoint was all the communication needed.
Part 4 - Lessons and Building a New Future
Looking back now, I realise that escaping the architecture profession wasn't about running away; it was about re building my own perspectives on how to enjoy this big blue marble we all live on. It was a lesson in understanding that you do not have to chase other peoples definition of success or be trapped by the pressure and unrealistic deadlines we place upon ourselves. It taught me to ensure the people I have around me have similar morals and values. It is said we become most like our 5 closest friends so make sure you understand who you have around you. One thing I am very lucky to have is a fantastic set of friends (a lot from primary and secondary school), I value these people immensely, and when I am with them I make sure to stay in the moment and enjoy my time with them instead of feeling guilty that I am not working!
Do not try to solve all the worlds problems but do your bit.
The other important lesson I learned is that you cannot solve all the problems we have in the world. There are to many, they can be confusing to navigate and leave you almost paralysed.
When I left for Mexico, I was vegan, I would sift through the bin to make sure the recycling was in the right place, the idea of plastics in the ocean kept me up at night. Every time I started a new architecture project I would feel guilty knowing I was about to use natural resources which further meant I would be effectively instructing carbon emissions to be released! Thats just some of what goes on up there in the old wheel house, its exhausting.
This is where the self care bit comes in. You simply cannot solve all the worlds problems by being a marter you still have to live. I stopped my vegan streak (around 2 and a bit years) when in the Amazon rainforest. Staying in the Gamboa community meant that fish was on the menu. There was no way I would be turning down what keeps this (really sustainable) community nourished, it would be rude, it would be wrong. This community is the perfect parallel opposite to the consumer centric society we seemed to be chained into.
Its really is a case of not being greedy! Take or earn what you need, no more no less and be conscious of your context and where you are getting things from.
If you want a fantastic example then Puerto Nariño in the Amazon rainforest is the place. No cars, no fuss just a small sustainable community. You can stay or do a day trip from Leticia, its a different world to the one most of use know.
Part 5 - So Whats Does One Do Now?
I feel like I owe backpacking a lot! It has really given me mental clarity. It is why I have started this very website. My ambition is to share my passion for architecture and the adventure of backpacking and fashion it into some sort of job (I do not know it it will work) I still need to hit that economic balancing point and fund the travels I want to take. For that reason I still dabble in architecture working for myself. I did have a brief encounter with an office job when I returned from my travels however, it quickly became clear that those values and that mental freedom I had found needed to apply to my place of work. The job was exactly the opposite, run by people I simply did not and could not respect.
I take on less projects and am fussy about who I work with selecting clients carefully. I try to enjoy the process and 'do my bit' by specifying materials that are more local and sustainable and when designing I try to ensure buildings give back to the surrounding environment whilst at the same time ensuring they provide delight for those who inhabit them.
I have re evaluated my own idea of success and am letting curiosity and epistemological pursuits lead the charge in shaping my path forwards. This will include a Youtube channel that I hope to start working into from spring 2025 (I have been practising and playing with this already, you can find it @backpackersblueprint, here I will be creating videos on backpacking heading to different architecture points across the globe. It may crash and burn but even if it does I have the confidence to try something different due to backpacking. I would love to fashion this into a sustainable income and venture.
I will also be building tools to help others explore the world around them and am attempting to code them (a new challenge but again trying to enjoy the journey) if you have experience in coding and want to get involved please hit me up! I have so far loved building this very website and have a lot planned for it going forward.
The one thing I do want to point out is that I have fantastic support from my parents, who will always put a roof over my head. This has given me the confidence to try all this and build a life for myself that is perhaps 'less conventional'.
As I said before if you asked a younger version of Jack where he would be by the age of 35 I would not have said any of this. Wanting to step away from the industry of architecture I thought made me a failure. Now, I am excited about the next 35 years and am back to tackling each day with a lot of purpose rather than barely being able to get out of bed each day.
My final thoughts for architects thinking of leaving the profession or anyone feeling trapped in a corporate career. You don't have to trek through Central America or be or have a moment in a Colombian desert to find your way (though I highly recommend both). But you do need to be brave enough to question what is important to you without the fear of 'what everyone else thinks'. Whether you're an architect, a lawyer, a teacher, or any other professional feeling trapped in a life that's been drafted by others' expectations; know that you have the ability to adjust your life, and take action. After all we get just one shot at this life right!
See you on the road explorer.
If this has got you thinking you would like to travel for a while then head to my guide on how to start backpacking in 2025 and please have a look through the website and other blogs.
Thanks for coming on this journey with me today, its the most open and honest blog I have ever written. I understand that my issues are relatively small compared to what else is going on in the world, but when your mental health deteriorates, contextually to you, it is your whole world.
If you have got this far then please consider subscribing at the Backpackers Blueprint homepage. I am super excited about this website and what it could become.
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