Burned out in her 50s, she left corporate life. Starting over in Korea helped her heal.

Greg Samborski. Burnout and physical strain from Jane Newman's job in Australia prompted her to rethink her next chapter. In her 50s, she stepped away from corporate life and moved to South Korea alone to start anew. No matter how busy she gets, she says she makes sure to go out every day and enjoy her surroundings. Jane Newman spent her evenings watching K-dramas on her recliner during the pandemic lockdowns. She didn't expect they'd spark a curiosity about South Korea that would eventually lead her to move there and start over. In 2023, Newman was working for a consulting firm in Brisbane, Australia. As a manager, her heavy workload didn't let up even as the world began to return to normal. After months of long hours spent in front of a screen, she was burned out and beginning to feel the strain. "I started out with a whole lot of shoulder and back pain, and then it developed into arm pain, and I couldn't use my mouse," Newman, now 60, told Business Insider. Greg Samborski. Standing desks and different chairs fixed little, so she took a sabbatical. Newman had first visited South Korea the previous year, curious about the country she'd only seen on TV. Remembering how much she had enjoyed that trip, she decided to return for a two-month break. When she went back to work, the symptoms didn't take long to resurface. This time, Newman found herself struggling mentally and emotionally, too. "I found it more and more difficult to do my work," she said. By July 2024, she and her employer agreed it was best for her to step away from the company. "I knew that South Korea was a place that I loved, and it made me feel good," Newman said. "So I made the decision to go back and stay for a few months to see how it felt." New career, new home For three months, she lived in an Airbnb in Gwacheon, a city just outside Seoul. Newman lived with her host, a local woman who had invited her to participate in the community events. There, she joined a group supporting former US military "comfort women," as well as two English clubs where members met to discuss news, read English fiction together, and give weekly presentations on various topics. "I met the most wonderful people, and they really invited me into their conversations. And I got to know a lot more about Korea itself, and its history," she said. Greg Samborski. "All of those things made me feel really welcomed, and at home, and part of a community, which is what I was really lacking back in Australia," Newman added. In Brisbane, her social life largely revolved around people she knew at work, or old friends she'd kept in touch with from her years living in the UK when her daughters were young. She was part of a bushwalking community and a social dining community, but most of those groups faded after the...

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