Relaxing vs. Climbing the ladder

From Niniane's blog:

It is surprising how many of our classmates turned their back on the fields they studied at Caltech. Imagine it: you work passionately throughout your teen years, culminating in four years of rigorous study at Caltech. You put in long hours to get a degree from one of the highest ranked science and engineering universities.

Then you turn your back on it, to pursue a life that takes no advantage of those talents.

As far as I can tell, all these people are very happy.

She ends with a quote about how power in a relationship is given to whoever needs less, but career wise I would say what these people need is something different, not less. One path isn't necessarily more valuable then the next, it just all depends on the individual.