On the off chance you mean that I'm in a mental prison, allow me to explain a little better.

I'm not doing nothing.

Classic advice for happiness is to not seek external validation. Salary and promotions are external validations.

I still do things, but I do things for me. Things I want regardless of what the world around me values. I study, I learn, I make, I fix. But I do those things for me at a pace I feel I can sustain instead of racing the other try hards at the office.

By not focusing outward I'm growing faster as a person.