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I live in London. I burned through my entire savings of £60,000 in a year and a half of burnout recovery and therapy; 1.5x my yearly expenditure.

I am broke now, and recovered. It is the best money I have spent.

I do not want to imagine where would I be without that money stashed away.

Not OP, but I quit 10 years ago without a clear plan with around 1.5 years of runway. Did a bit of freelancing after that and now run my own company. I'm usually more on the risk-averse side of things, but that felt safe enough for me.

How did you find these freelance gigs and what were your tasks?

Exclusively from previous work relationships. Mostly around network infrastructure stuff (BGP automation) and e-commerce full-stack development and operation. I explicitly only took gigs that where very clear in scope to ensure I had enough time to try out my own ideas.

Thanks

I get why you ask but it really doesn't matter, when you burn out you have no choice but to quit. The money determines how long you can relax before getting your next job.