One of the best years of my life was when I was making 10k a year as a ski bum.

Edit: this was after working as a production manager making 65k a year, buying a house and losing literally everything from a divorce. The house took up my savings and the divorce took the house. The job ended unexpectedly when a business partner decided to shut the company down. I was broker than broke and lived out of my truck for 9 months.