What Is A Rat Race?

From answers.com:

Fierce competition to maintain or improve one's position in the workplace or social life.

This term presumably alludes to the rat's desperate struggle for survival. [Colloquial; first half of 1900s]

From Dictionary.com:

any exhausting, unremitting, and usually competitive activity or routine, esp. a pressured urban working life spent trying to get ahead with little time left for leisure, contemplation, etc.

From thefreedictionary:

a fierce struggle for success, especially in one's career or business

From Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

a way of life in modern society, in which people compete with each other for power and money

yourdictionary.com:

a mad scramble or intense competitive struggle
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So getting out of Rat Race is not the same as putting the mind into IDLE mode.

What does getting out of the Rat Race mean to you?

I believe that I am Out Of Rat Race if I have realized most of these:

• Financial Independence (coming soon)
• More Time to spend with Family & Friends (done)
• Spending Money on Friends, Family, Charity & myself (more to come)
• Time to do those Hobbies I've always Wanted to do (more to do)
• Fulfilling my childhood's Dream list (more to come)
• Treating bosses just like another employees of the company (done)
• Not looking forward for year end bonuses (done)

for some people it may even include:

• Becoming your own Boss
• Travel around the world
• Financial Freedom
• .....

What does getting out of the Rat Race mean to you?