24 years old - Would rather die than work a soul draining job the next 40 years.

Status
Not open for further replies.

run4fun

Well-Known Member
#21
i work with minimum wage people at the restaurant that we've run for 45+ years for the last 25 years. these people have problems beyond money. they have mental problems. someone is on drugs. a boyfriend is harrassing our employee. people are talkin back at each other. our deliver guy wants to fight our manager. the husband is goin to fight our manager. one of the workers says she has 9 kids. sometimes, i feel like beating the crap out of some of them. they have their days off while i work everyday. they blow their money on clothes and even though i'm allowed to spend my money now, i feel that they are just creating extra drama for themselves. i always try to empathize with them. the workers don't appreciate that i work til close. they don't realize that i have to check the other locations. i went to school with a high school student who said that he was poor and walked around wearing a leather jacket and eating good.
 

Daniel

Active Member
#22
I think I understand where you're coming from. We're told from a young age that to be happy, we need to work long hours and make a lot of money, because that's the American way. However, I can't think of a typical 9-5 job that would be anything but tedious and depression-inducing.

I can only imagine the pressure you must feel being in such a highly competetive environment. But you must know that you have a choice in all this. You don't need to work the 9-5 drudge like all the other suits. Get an easy part-time job and move into a cheap apartment if you want. Dedicate your time to the things you actually enjoy doing, without feeling guilty. You'd be surprised how little money it takes to live comfortably.

For example, I'm studying economics at a fairly prestigious university. My parents don't know this, but I'm thinking of working graveyard security when I graduate. Sure, the pay's not great (around $11 an hour), but the job's a joke. I'll be able to spend most of the time reading and messing around online. Eventually, I plan to work from home, perhaps doing freelance stuff... or whatever. Now an outsider might think I lack ambition, but that's not the case at all. I'm ambitious about things I care about. Working my ass off for the man just isn't one of them.

Contrary to what your parents and society in general would have you believe, a) you are not destined to spend the next 40 years of your life in a cubicle and b) your job is not what defines you. And as cliche as it sounds, only you can decide what you want to do with your life. Even if that means nothing.
What he said

Its good advise we need to break the conditioning that you need to work a 9 til 5 and have the morgage and car and family. Its possible to live off much less just enough to pay Rent on a room Food and then do things you enjoy doing.

dont get me wrong its not ideal, If the world was in a better state we would all have nice house's, cars and so on and it wouldnt require a lifetime of servitude. Theres a force in this world which sucks the abundance into its own greedy hands. But still i personally chose to do as little work as possible
combined with a very cheap standard of living which affords me much more than any material possesion could provide me with. Essentailly what I am doing is spending my money on "time" rather than on "stuff".

Try and find a balance get a parttime job of about 3 days a week , ok thats you sacrafice but now you have 4 days of every week to do what you want to do.
 
#23
"I've always been nocturnal, and waking up in the morning is incredibly painful for me no matter how long I've been in the routine. I absolutely hate working. Something about having to go somewhere every day, having to constantly play stupid games with stupid people, and having to work for the rest of my life to survive is just completely horrifying to me. No matter what job, even if it would be something I love; something about the compulsion and servitude just causes me unbearable distress."

same thing with me. i dont know what to do. seems like work is taking all my life and i just dont know..
 

whynot

Active Member
#24
You could always look into SSI/Disability. It was incredibly rough for me the first few years; having to adapt to what amounts to poverty conditions and try and find some coherence (let alone help) from the system. At least I don't have to play the games you mention nor deal with people who have the character of primitive animals. Actually I probably live better than most people making minimum wage and probably better than someone working 65 hours a week for a 60k salary since I just do whatever the hell I like. Not to many friends though, particularly if you tell people you're disabled (even from depression) I never really liked people anyways though. The system will degrade you though, probably more so than if you were to work at mcdonalds or something, since they often question your cognitive/mental ability and use terms like low functioning etc. Who cares though, everyone knows govt employees are often idiots themselves.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
#25
dude i've never been to college or anything like that. i am an intelligent person when it comes to matters of the heart but not the books. so for me trying to decide what to do in life was a struggle for a long time. i had actually found something that i really really liked when i was 20 but got fired from it when i told the boss off. a couple of years had passed and i ended up getting married and had a couple of children. my now ex had a job in the country and there weren't many jobs out there. i didn't plan on working till the kids went to school. but what i enjoyed doing wasn't possible out where i was. so i worked jobs that i absolutely hated and never stayed at them more than a year. so i decided to move back to the main city. i now have a job doing what i loved doing when i was 20. i only work about 20 hrs a week even as a single mother. but everyones needs eventually gets met. it's not the high life it's actually quite simple and a whole lot less stressful.

you are an intelligent man. i have every confidence that you can figure this out without suicide. although i very well know how tempting that can be. please take care of yourself and hang in there. keep talking as you feel you need to we'll be here.
 
#27
SOL
I understand what you mean, myself I am not lucky in my profesional life, I moved so much from there to there...coming from europe, when I came to north america, I was so suprised by the way of thinking, not because it's the wrong way, but a person here is judged by what she/he does.

They ask who are you? and the person answers I am a pharmacist or judge or this and that...but work is a nightmare when you don't do what you want to do.
Personnally, my professional life has been a nightmare, I didn't do what I wanted to do, for me it is a failure, not to do what you want to do. People look at me like a miserable secretary but they don't know who I am.

what I suggest you Sol is: you stay at law school and one day, you can have your own business or a job where you are your own boss.

I've always been in contact with people like you SOL, smart people, myself when I was at school, I thought twice before answering my tests, I did get them but not like you, you are smart and you should think about that.

and you are young.

take care,
 
#28
I knew a girl in high school, she was 17, who comitted suicuide because she didn't want to follow a scientist career, she loved litterature. I knew her mom, she was my math teacher. That girl committed suicide because she dated a lousy guy who didn't care about her, and her parents told her that she is a looser if she doesn't want to be a "scientist". She left a note. Her mom one day, I saw her and she was so sad.

PARENTS SHOULDN'T TELL THEIR CHILDREN WHAT STUDIES THEY SHOULD FOLLOW
 

run4fun

Well-Known Member
#29
wonkey toy, i agree with you about parents. at 37, my parents are still tellin me what to do and i live with them. i wish that i had as much foresight as that 17 year old, then i would have done myself in at a much younger age. for me to kill myself now is more dramatic.
 

-Deception-

Well-Known Member
#30
Sol, I completely see where you're coming from. I don't have any answers, nor words of encouragement. I just know that I have a job many people would die for, yet I feel it's completely draining me of my energy because it's a job. A job can be insanely rewarding, but if you're uncomfortable with the conditions of being tied to one place, and give up when confronted with the idea of working for another 40 years, then it all just gets so very tiresome. It's wears you out, breaks you down.

I can't help but think that our will to categorize, to frame and to control and plan ahead has left us with little or no space to actually just be. But then again, the world is nowadays all about being efficient and avant garde, so it's not likely that this will change in a near future.

It's not laziness, it's the will to not be trapped. Hope you find some answers to all your questions.
 

JRC2004

Well-Known Member
#31
I have felt exactly the same for many, many years, even before I was 24 so i know where you are coming from. I'd like to say it gets easier, but from my experience (and there could be others), it doesn't. Well, it hasn't for me. 32 now and still feel exactly the same. Still looking for that reason. I did get to the point a few years ago when I said 'to hell with it all' and took a year off and went travelling round the World. That was a lot of fun, but then I worked bloody hard to make that happen. Then came back down to reality and back into the who drudgery mundane everyday existence back in London. So I did this for a few years.... and last year I was like ok, I can't do this anymore, so i up-sticks and moved out here to Spain at the end of last year. Six months on I am still trying to get the enthusiasm for anything. I have worked hard to make this happen, but I get spurts of energy for something and the interest soon wanes and I am left feeling 'what is the point? where am I going? Can I be bothered'. Already I am thinking of the next move. How long can I go on searching!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Please Donate to Help Keep SF Running

Total amount
$70.00
Goal
$255.00
Top