🚗 To change down ⚙️ A lower gear 🌱 To live simpler 📉 A slowdown 💼 A simpler job

downshift

6.7

A move from a high-paying stressful job to simpler, more satisfying work

noun
/ˈdaʊnʃɪft/

: cambio a un trabajo menos exigente

After years working as an executive, he decided to downshift for a better work-life balance.

Examples

She feels happier since her downshift to a part-time job.
Many professionals consider a downshift when they realize their high salaries do not bring happiness.
A dramatic downshift in her career led her to find genuine satisfaction in a new field.
Many workers are opting for a downshift in their careers.
After struggling with the pressures of his high-paying job, he finally made a downshift to pursue his passion for teaching.
Many people find true happiness after a downshift from a demanding corporate career to a more peaceful and rewarding lifestyle.
Her downshift to part-time work allowed her to focus on her art and spend more time with family.

Synonyms

downshifting

vsdownshift

4.9

Live a simpler life with less work and fewer things

is moving from high pay stressful work to lower pay but more fulfilling roles

Antonyms

to upshift

5.8

To move to a higher position at work or in society

How Stressful

high-pressure job

1 4.5

career

∞ 1.8

downshift

6.7

retirement

320 1.6

Surface Forms

downshift singular

downshifts plural

Morphology

downshift = shift (transparent) = down + shift

The career/lifestyle sense is a metaphorical extension but directly understood as 'shifting down' to a lower-status or less demanding role.

Etymology

The word downshift combines down- 'lower' and shift 'change'. Think of shifting your career 'down' from a high-stress job to simpler work, so a downshift means moving to a less stressful, lower-paid life.