Changing my mindset about work

Roughly twenty years ago, I worked for a small, private company that a much larger company acquired. The new company announced that it was paying out everyone’s PTO balance down to just 40 hours. I had about 490 hours of accumulated PTO, the most of anyone in the department and probably top five in the company. That was a nice check, but was it worth the endless weeks and months toiling away without a break?