ZodiacalFury

This so-called humor arms race would help explain marketing even before corporate snark on Twitter... think about how surreal insurance television commercials are these days, that all with GEICO years ago

To be fair, the idea of the virus ending wasn't entirely farfetched. The last 2 Coronavirus variants that caused outbreaks - SARS and MERS - rapidly went extinct. Ebola is another example where, through aggressive countermeasures, the number of reported new cases went to literally zero in only a matter of months.

I agree at this point it's probably not going to be the case for COVID-19 - it seems to have spread too much already. Still given the history of other viral outbreaks, the hope for an "end" was (initially) reasonable.

Your question piqued my interest because we have similar career backgrounds and I would like to one day hike the AT. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'll be able to pursue this dream because I like my current job and think it has strong future opportunities...

Do you mind saying how you both mentally and financially prepared for making the decision to quit your old job? I presume you don't regret it at all - or do you?

Best of luck in your job search.