Ad people are a little bit masochistic and a whole lot like Michael describes.

....... it pays to move so you get an early retirement

You're spot on Michael, we are the Peter-Pan-People, unfortunately.

We blindly and constantly strive to climb the ladder of perceived success found in pay raises, promotions, awards, honors, and bonuses that supposedly yield better projects from better clients with bigger budgets with more autonomy, freedom, and control over our art only to find it does not exist, or it wasn’t what we thought it would be. But then, it’s too late to turn back or go else where before we get burnt out, blow away, replaced, or fired by people wanting the same thing we did and facing the same destiny we got. We are hopeless malcontents who know not what we want or need. We are insecure- egotists who demand our self-importance be acknowledged and accepted by all those around us, without regard to theirs. We are vagabonds without direction looking for “greener pastures” in a desert of waste. We try to “keep up with the Joneses” who are trying to keep up with us. We try to “follow the rainbow to a pot of gold” that usually ends up being a pot of piss. We are naïve artists in a business where profit is king. We are the Peter-Pan-People who refuse to grow up and pragmatically face reality for practicality sakes. We don’t get it before it’s too late, and in most cases not even after the fact. Does it drive us mad? Very. Insane and heartbroken, then lost, used up, abused, and discarded like a smoked cigarette butt laying in life’s gutter. It is not about keeping abreast of change, it is about consuming passion and obsession.