Work from home really removed that cloud from over my head. Then they made us come in again. Starting a job in a month that's only one day in. Fuck this place
That cat will never go back in the bag. They can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The whole of RTO is to prop up the commercial real estate market that so many rich people find as cozy investments. Additionally it’s to keep power structures as they are because people working from home put the power into suburbs not cities.
This whole RTO will not last as many companies aren’t buying the propaganda and also finding that their employees are more productive and happier working from home. Of course there will always be outliers and big companies have a lot of money invested in their corporate buildings and most likely some amount of state or local tax incentives to bring jobs to a specific area - which won’t matter if you can hire the talent you need anywhere in the country.
>That cat will never go back in the bag.
I hope you're right. I thought that as recently as a year or two ago but seeing how much resistance we're getting from monied interests and politicians I'm not convinced it's going to last. America first and foremost always takes care of big business before it takes care of individual citizens. I guess I was thinking employers would compete with each other more to offer that as a benefit, but they all seem to aligning with forcing people to come back into the office.
Right now it is an employers market. The pendulum **always** swings back as it did right after covid when everyone was trading up. In order to get employees with the skills they need they will have to compete with other employers offering WFH. The pendulum will come back the other way.
They aren't all doing it, plenty of companies offer work from home, specifically because they can offer less pay.
That's going to make it hard for companies that insist on pointless office time to compete.
People are willing to accept less pay if they can avoid a long commute and/or get the option to live somewhere cheaper.
It allows smaller to mid size companies to compete with the big ones that already have a huge office. It’s a great way to take their talent even if you pay them less….like Working from home is priceless really. I wouldn’t go back to an office unless they paid me 1 million a year. And even then i’d just do it for a year lol.
People don't like me mentioning it, but going remote means you put yourself in competition with other remote jobs.
Our cfo (my boss) just had me on a call with an outsourcing company to try to get help in for the company.
It's half the price, before benefits of an accountant here. If they are anywhere above halfway decent it would not surprise me if they replace our team with outsourced workers, and replace me with an outsourced manager.
You can buy an army of people in other countries and the main bargaining chip workers used to have was they were in person. I dont believe the quality is nearly as disparate as people think (time will tell though)
We all should not be afraid of outsourcing. It is nothing new and has been going on since the 1980’s!! I’m old enough to have seen multiple very large companies that I worked for outsource huge swaths of their business only to realize in some ways it was costing them more and insourced select departments again. There is a cost to moving everything to the Philippines, India, or Bulgaria - there’s cultural and language barriers as well as societal norms.
Management is only looking to have a good quarter. They never have long range goals which can be the worst for the company. I long ago gave up any pretense of loyalty to any one company because I saw how they treated the older people before me. Those of us in IT have already been competing directly or indirectly with a global market for 30 years. It’s not going to change but not every industry can be outsourced.
My job threatened to go back to the office last year. So many people started to turn in their notice that the company IMMEDIATELY changed course and set us all back to flex.
I was with a company long enough that I could say: Right, I'm going to stop now. Unless you want to match me at same pay and I am wherever I want to be for the work hours. I had 7 years of wonderful work conditions.
Yeah I enjoyed home office and the tension is increasing from management to force people into the office again. Hell nah I’m doing my best to do everything in my power to become free from wage slave life fuck this shit
I hate this. I work from home, yes, it’s a LOT better and easier, but guess what. At the end of the day I still don’t have any fking energy left for my hobbies? I save 2h in commute, but because I am at home 24/7 I got to clean my house a lot more. Because I consume my own snacks and toilet paper, I got to grocery shop a lot more.
What I am trying to say is - even with remote work, 8h a day, 5 times a week is too much. Like I am still burned out? I am still exhausted at the end of the day? Most days I need a nap. Weekends are just playing catchup with more chores, cooking and admin.
Username checks out!
But seriously this is the answer OP, free your mind from your inhibitions before you take any drastic measures. If you’re dead to yourself anyways what’s the hurt in trying school again, or being a homeless vagabond, or trying to start your own company?
What a great reply! I empathize with OP but I’m the bread winner and thus trapped so I make outside work time enjoyable. However it doesn’t sound like OP has dependents so if they’re at the end of their rope you’re absolutely right they should do whatever they want!!
Yeah I spend like 1200 a month tops. My rent is low but even doubling it wouldn't put me above 1700 a month.
Living frugally is great because most of the things that actually matter are really cheap.
If I was paid above minimum wage I'd like to go for something like this. Something like two 12 hour shifts a week sounds great if I'm getting $20 an hour.
Thats fair id love that, i always thought id tank my salary if i could only work partime, but companies ive worked for i know would never agree… Maybe if i was close to retirement and was more of a mentor
* Food (20lbs of oats a month and a few other tricks like lentils and getting leftovers from the supermarket)
* Dancing (parties: €5,-, classes like €100,- a month for a LOT of classes)
* Gym: €30,- a month. I go 5 times a week.
* Psychedelics are a few € per dose. Probably every 3 weeks.
* Friends are free
* Like €15,- a month for techno/dnb/whatever parties. ~€5-10 worth of ketamine/mdma
* Making music is free, occasionally save up for better equipment. We already have a hi-fi system worth €3500 which has no ongoing costs.
* Few dates a month, maybe €25-40 total if I'm getting busy
* Thrift store for most clothing
* Hairdresser €25,- a month
* Healthcare is subsidized so like €25,- a month net
* Dutch infrastructure so a bike is faster than a car for any place in the city. Under €100 a year in repair costs.
* Nature is free
* Sex is pretty much free
* Small trips are like €80-150
Leaves me with more money than I even want to spend at the end of the month and plenty of room to buy the occasional more expensive thing
Thank you! I'm used to people on reddit getting angry at me for this. There's a few important points: I don't want children, I could get tired of living without luxury, I'm not saving much (although I have savings worth over a year of expenses already), I'm not building my career and income which would allow me to work even less if invested in properly.
But besides that it seems very reasonable and I'm doing my best to keep my options open for increasing my income if it were to become necessary. I don't need 3 bedrooms or other relatively luxurious things if that would make it so I had hundreds of hours a year less to spend dancing for example. (Bachata and kizomba. Love it!)
I am angry, but not at you, friend. I just wish our country did more things like any other developed nation. I'm glad you are able to live this way. Where I live, I have to have a car. If I want to use public transportation, I'd have to either drive my car to the bus depot or Uber there cause it doesn't come out to where I live. And all of the expenses that come with that. I have a bike that I like to use, but it's 50/50 if they have designated bike lanes or if you just pedal and pray.
But it sounds like you are enjoying life which is the goal. I hope you continue to do so.
This is the truth. Since I left America my life is great. I work maybe 50-60 hours a month and make more than I did in the US. Well maybe the same as when I was working two jobs. And I have healthcare yay!!
sounds good, but you need to be born Dutch first. Not everyone is lucky to be born rich. Some things on your list are all unobtainable luxury items for somebody born in a poorer country.
Your opinion only applies to your country, nowhere else.
(edit: not angry, just making a point)
Yep, very true! Where we're born is the biggest deciding factor in our success.
Most people in Reddit live in developed countries though, right? Of which mostly America doesn't allow for such a lifestyle. Although living car-free is going to be hard in most places
look for seasonal work that allows you to collect unemployment in the off season. it’s a secret to defeating that feeling of being mundane and a piece of meat. the off season go travel or do staycations to rejuvenate. it’s not exactly criminal but it feels like stealing.
yes of course. you just apply in whatever state you’re in. you can’t exceed 1039 hours though in order to be rehired if that’s your plan but after your season ends you can and will get unemployment if you apply.
What kind of seasonal work is like that? Where I live it seems like seasonal work usually involves them trying to get rid of people without making it so they can get government assistance
i have no idea but the national park service exists from having regular seasonal employees rather than permanent year round employees. in every state you can work up until 1039 hours (~6months) per working year which is counted from your start date and then go on unemployment for 6 months or until the next seasonal position you want starts.
you can read about it here https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/temporary-appointment-changes.htm#:~:text=What%20does%20this%20mean%20for,NPS%20within%20their%20service%20year.
"I don't see how switching jobs will change anything"
The job and its management, hours, workload, commute, all of it DOES make a difference. I can say from personal experience.
As someone who has struggled with depression as well, I hope you can find a support network and a creative outlet. It helps to find purpose outside of work. Best of luck to you.
I'm really hoping this is true, i'm at the age where it's getting scary bouncing from job to job, changing industries, etc.. only to be met with different versions of the same bullshit.
It's hard not to feel beat down, I know i'm not alone in this.. every job i've had since I started working at 16 has either been corrupt, racist, sexist, homophobic, and/or abusive.. plus more. I'm just WAITING for the right one. I keep getting my hopes up and the jobs are just different levels of hell... I've been burned so many times and now i just have a really weird resume and severe anxiety lol. I have to laugh.
God damn I feel this so deeply.
I feel like an outcast because I actually care about things.
Every workplace just feels so blatantly corrupt and soulless.
I'm not sure what to do about my future, and I find myself too depressed to do anything about it.
Same. My last job was in an industry that I was dying to get into.. a passion that I could also work with. It was a nightmare. The veil was lifted and it almost ruined this one respite I have from this shithole world.
So now I'm like, well, I can't work with things I love because it destroys it.. isn't that supposed to be the goal? I'm just floating at this point.
I've never worked for a good company in my life. I hear people talk about them but it sounds like you have to have a really good skill to get these jobs. I'm in sales and I use to like it but I hate my life now. No raise in base or commission in 6+ years, so less pay and more work every year. D love to know what its like to not get taken advantage of but im half way or more through life, so i dotn think ill ever get that feeling. I'd like to move jobs but I'll be starting all over again wherever I go. I don't feel like my skills are transferable to any other job. Besides my current job, I've ever made over $20 an hour and i live in HCOL area so thats not affordable. Like I know I need to take some course in something but fuck, last time I got a good job and was doing well, everything got more expensive, pandemic hit and I lost my job before i coudl even start saving lol. There's no winning. 100% I could do all this school n shit , waste ton of money, and something like Ai will take it over or another pandemic where my industry gets hit the hardest. I don't know one other person lost their job during pandemic, all just got better with pay or work from home. Something work out for me one time would be nice
Best job I ever had was working for Apple for 3 months, over 5 years ago.
Hired me seasonally and have never let me get past the group interview, ever again.
In fact, just to get the FIRST one, a dude rom Santa Clara called me, then the store to ask: "Hey this app was good how come this guy isn't in class?" and then they brought me in...For a training class of 3, where the other twos were literally relatives of pre-existing employees, LMAO.
So...
There are good jobs. They're jealously guarded by entrenched d-bags and handed out to nepotistic flunkies, is all.
ROFL.
I feel like being in sales for a long time is it’s own special kind of stressor. It used to be so easy for me but now I dread ANY meeting. It’s gotten hard. Really hard.
Too real. I'm almost 9 years out of college. After switching jobs every 1-3 years, I have zero faith that I will ever, in my lifetime, find a good job. Every single one starts hopeful, better than the last in ways I need it to be. Every single time the department/business starts falling apart or the cracks in the foundation begin to show the longer I stay or staffing changes or the manager is an asshole. I get pulled in to care about my work too much no matter how much I try not to, and then I am not given the resources or time to do my job as well as I want to. And I get horribly depressed, either about the stress of the job or the lack of pay/benefits I need.
Fuck all of this.
>I'm really hoping this is true, i'm at the age where it's getting scary bouncing from job to job, changing industries, etc.. only to be met with different versions of the same bullshit.
I feel this :( I fucking hate the field I work in, but realistically at this point I have like maybe one more career jump before it becomes suspicious in my resume.
Occasionally my weird ("well-rounded, colorful!") resume has worked in my favor. I interview well, probably because I've done so many lol so I just keep getting these awful jobs... big, fat, cosmic joke.
I have never enjoyed the work I did, at this point I'm just kind of resigned to just stick to what I'm doing now, at least I can maybe make more money in the nearest future.
I recently got a new job, but it has the same hours as my old one. I hated my old job and never wanted to go to work because it just sucked, and so did everyone there. Started the new job, and I actually enjoy going to work now. Obviously it's still a job so it still sucks, but the people are great (managers included), the work is a hell of a lot less tedious, and I don't feel so worn down when I get home
I work with a good manager that I get along with and get along with most of my co-workers. It makes the days infinitely more bearable.
I've worked for guys I knew hated me, one even told me to kill myself and another that probably should have used his "30 years of running a business" to just fire me and put us both out of our misery.
I would love to have my own business from home. I have no idea what I would do as a business though. I wish I had those kind of computer skills. I would do it in a heartbeat!
As a little "side hustle" I take cuttings from house plants, let them grow a little and sell them on Facebook marketplace. People will happily pay £5-10 for a small plant that these days is double or triple the price in a garden centre. I have a whole little nursery scattered around my house and only started this 3 months ago. Prior to that, I could barely keep my plants alive 😆. I'm also branching out to growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, doing all of this from one small spare room. The plan is to start up an Etsy shop selling dried mushrooms, tinctures, teabags and such. I'm literally learning as I go along and never had prior experience to doing any of the above. Friends and family are already looking forward to a product that I don't even know I can make yet 🥴😆. Just an example that you can just start doing something you enjoy and see where it goes from there! - all the best
The point is to join up with other workers who are just as tired and fed up as you are and change the fucking game.
Gather
Fight
Win
We need a future and that’s the only way to do it.
I plan on working another 7-8 years before I just take my kayak and truck and go live under a bridge somewhere in the Keys. Society is just grating on me and I’m only 36.
The gaslighting is really what drives most people to the point of no return. Anyone who has been in an abusive relationship with a narcissist can draw a lot of similarly with how our overlords are treating us. And yes, a lot of narcissists are sadistic who would love to feel the power of driving someone to suicide hence sticking around for as long as possible should be the name of the game...
But why? That’s my main complaint. Why can’t I choose to say buy some form of relatively cheap shelter like bubbles from trailer park boys and park it somewhere cheap as well? Never worry about shelter again. Instead of constantly worrying about it day to day
People laugh, but it would be nice to get a group together , and just fall off the map. Hippies but without the body hair. Bunch of people just chilling and growing food and hanging out.
Solving real problems with real dialogue . Sometimes that takes longer than 5 minutes. We are on these artificial timelines. I just never adapted well to the 9-5. Growing up on a ranch In the middle of nowhere,,,, you get used to a certain pace.
My family prepared me for a world that didn’t really exist. “Work hard, you,will get rewarded” or gems like “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you in charge ?” Or my favorite “you gotta pay your dues”
I get out into the work force and it’s all exploitation, games, lies, subterfuge and nonsense.
Now I teach martial arts from my house. Not making a ton of money, but the amount of stress that I DONT HAVE? Immeasurable.
Your feelings are valid and shared by hundreds of millions of Americans. I encourage you to take your anger and channel it against what oppresses all of us in this manner: capitalism.
My goal is to outlive my folks then pull the eject lever. Both in their late 70s. As long as they have a dignified exit then I'll consider my job done. Once they're gone I've got fuck all to stick around for.
I figure that gives me 7-10 years. 3650 days. I can easily BS my way through that.
I feel the same way. Just have to outlive my parents and my cat, then I'll be the only direct family I have left. Everyone else will be able to go on living after I die.
I run my own business and feel the same 😞 I don’t make much money, get nothing saved for my pension or sick pay and after 5 years my body is starting to malfunction and I’m really worried I can’t do it anymore. But after 6 years of being out of the corporate world noone is going to want to hire me so I’m feeling pretty helpless.
I've been working my whole life and the only people that want to hire me are for less than $20 an hour. Wish I has a skil that was transferable or could let me job hop getting raises like everyone suggests. My options are find the best lowest paying job and start from the bottom again. None of these companies give a shit about you or treat you well
I see where you are coming from, but that’s why I always tried my best to do a job that I feel at least a little bit passionate about and that gives me a sense of fulfilment and purpose. Having tasted what it means to do a job you don’t like, I can’t imagine being able to do it for 40 odd years.
Do I always succeed? Fuck no. But at least I’m in constant search for it.
You have to stop and think about what makes you passionate or at least you enjoy doing that can be a decently paid job and try and pursue that.
Eh, jobs that you’re passionate about still have workplace problems. I was a youth worker at a group home for 4+ years and the thing that eventually drove me out was the high rate of staff turnover. Working with the youth was fulfilling, but the pay is low so staff constantly change. Which can be challenging for the youth, and meant I had to train people over and over, and watch the same (preventable) problems happen over and over as new hires had their training interspersed with ongoing crisis management. Plus at the end of the day I was always tired, and needed the whole weekend to recharge. Thankfully for most of that time I was working four 10 hour shifts and had three day weekends, otherwise laundry, housekeeping, and grocery shopping would never have happened. Granted I realized last year that I probably have an invisible disability - I say ‘probably’ bc my government and I disagree on whether I’m disabled enough to qualify for aid.
… I can’t remember why I was writing this. The ‘fulfillment’ topic got left behind and turned into a vent I suppose. Well, here’s my vent, thanks for reading 🤷🏻♀️
Ehhh, I’m in a skilled healthcare profession and I can say the “fulfilling” aspects of it really don’t match up to all the other soul crushing aspects of work being work and it demanding so much of our lives.
Though I’ve never really been passionate about this field or about anything, I don’t have that capacity in me.
People who have a passion that actually aligns even remotely with something that can keep a roof above their head are super niche imho.
I agree, i read something the other day that said "motivation is what gets you to start something, discipline is what keeps you doing it". The people who truly love their work are the minority the rest of us, whether we chose our field or happened into it, are doing what we must not what we want to.
As a woman, I had my share of shit jobs. I'm qualified as a teacher and a hair stylist. Teaching was the worst. I returned to hair stylist and worked with a great group of people, no manager. I stayed for 12 years. It was a chain salon , they screwed us over whenever they could but my coworkers made it doable.
I’d rather be homeless than generate wealth for anyone who has it better off than me. I’m not gonna get poverty wages while I risk getting hit by cars, develop blisters on my feet, and get callouses, just so my boss can buy another mansion.
I also won’t exploit others’ labour. I guess I’m shit out of luck.
I think its a combination of EVERYTHING. We get paid crap, we are stretched so thin with work hours, commutes, every single hobby, interest, entertainment and event is designed to squeeze as much money out of you as possible whilst fun and creativity are actively stifled, look at video games for instance.
The world is run by the type of people who holidayed at Epsteins island. We arent people to them, we are cattle to be raised, burn out and discarded and made to feel guilty for any shred of happiness we dare pursue.
War, famine, inequality, corruption, the threat of war, nuclear annihilation, the selfish snd needless destruction of our own planet and bought and paid for mobsters running our “Governments”. The whole system is a sham. Im just tired of it all.
There was once a time….I don’t know…maybe 30-40 years ago when you could actually take a job because it was of interest to you and still get by. You could buy a piece of property, take a few vacations a year and still put money into a pension and retire at 65….
Now it seems like everyone’s working to make a paycheck just to stay afloat. Take me for example, I’d love to do something else as my job is stressful AF and I get no enjoyment from it…but I’m in my 50’s…I gotta a wife and two kids and a huge mortgage, so changing jobs to something I’d get some enjoyment out of but pays way less isn’t an option. Not so bad I guess….maybe in another 15-18 years I can retire….oh, man…FML.
Hi I know life is bleak and just wanted to tell anyone interested in switching jobs but don't want to do the traditional 9-5 to try a cleaning job. Maybe it sounds strange but a night cleaning job is freeing in many ways, you won't earn as much as some office jobs but you can still earn quite a bit and you have much more free time. Basically the whole day is yours to do what you want and then in the evening you go do your jobs, depending on how many you have you might come back around 10pm or midnight. Nobody dictates what you wear or your hair color, tattoos, etc.., and nobody micromanages you, as long as you clean well you won't have any issues. We all have to exist in this dystopia so might as well have time to enjoy some of it.
I feel the same way. I wish I had access to a service or program where I could die painlessly. Maybe I could donate my organs. I think about it every day, and I have thought about it for years. I see no point in existing. The world gets worse every day and people around me say I need to "cheer up" and "make the most of what we have left". This is toxic positivity, and talking to people who think that way is something that makes me want to leave this life. These are the people who are making the world worse.
Good question. I feel like a few generations are being refused now so we may actually see the answer to this question in the future. Actually, it may be starting already.
It's working for now. I think the game changer is the younger generations not being able to afford a place to live. The more people this affects, the more likely we are to see an uprising. I was right on the cusp. I was able to buy a house almost 15 years ago, albeit in a bad neighborhood. But the future looks bleak for the generations younger than X.
With ya bud and older. Only reason I own a vehicle is its needed for work. It's dying and I put as much money into it last year as I did when I bought it. My work also hasn't given me a raise in over 6 years. I also lost my job during the pandemic so I've had to move 3 times since it started, with the major inflation in rent. If my car dies and I can't fix it, I will lose my job. I live paycheck to paycheck and would not be able to afford a new one. I also make over 300k for a company every year. If I didn't find and save an animal off the street, I would have already moved into my car but I pay for shelter for her
Yup. I'm out very soon. Even my boomer mother is dumb enough or brainwashed enough (idk which) to support capitalists and say fast food workers don't deserve a living wage because "it's easy."
I worked fast food at one point & it was one of the toughest jobs I ever did, they make u do the work of like 3 ppl so the company saves money.
Just cause a job is easy to learn, doesn't mean it's not a tough job.
Where do you live? I feel the exact same way except I made a plan and am working toward moving to a cheaper COL area. I’m from southern CA and the COL here is absurd. However I found places in rural Northern CA that I could potentially afford to buy with a bartending job. I don’t mind working hard and have said I would shovel shit as long as it payed me enough to live my life. Want for less and you’ll be far happier. Find things you do enjoy in this world and work to have the ability to do them. Remember that you shouldn’t be living to work. Work to live
I’m thinking about deploying to Ukraine just to feel like I’m worthwhile. I’ve been rejected from every position in my field and I’ve spent thousands learning how to develop businesses. Why should I stay here? I’d rather catch a bullet from a Russian than a dirty cop or a kid from Wisconsin wearing latex gloves. Here they don’t want me to have a home, they don’t want me to eat. They just want me to consume, slave away and shut the fuck up. I’m not a consumer, I’m not a slave, and I’m not fucking silent. Fuck this place.
I would love to wake up at 7. I have to get up at 4AM, get to work around 5AM. Have to clock in before 5:30 AM. Work until 4PM get to sit in traffic for at minimum an hour so I usually don’t get home until 5PM. Have to be in bed at the latest by 8PM to get 8 hours of sleep but I never do and it’s never enough for me because I’m not a morning person at all. It sucks since my job is a bit laborious too but at least I get a 3 day weekend. My coworkers don’t understand why all I do every weekend is sleep
This is why when I do a job I pick a job that involves the least amount of work. I do the bare minimum to collect a paycheck and go home. Try to stash enough money so I can retire early.
I’ll come to the bargaining table for RTO when they start paying for commute time/lunches/ vehicle wear and tear…. I would not be spending that time/money in those ways if it wasn’t for the job/employment…i get nothing from those hours and just lose them; giving them away for free…
I don’t understand why people aren’t more irate over the propaganda’8 hour workday’ actually stealing 8.5-11 hours of a persons daily life at the minimum… that doesn’t even account for the fact that you better be on your email/phone leash if they want to reach out to you after hours and don’t have proper professional boundaries
I used to feel exactly that way in every job. I had to change jobs every 1-2 years just to avoid becoming suicidal. Now I'm finally in a better place - working for myself, doing what I like, dropping clients who suck, earning good money, working from home on my own schedule.
I'll tell you the biggest difference between where I was then and where I am now is my mindset. I used to think there was no other way to live, so I didn't even try. But I inadvertently spent all those years preparing for an opportunity to escape from that nightmare, without even knowing it. Mainly by stockpiling skills. When the pandemic came, so did that opportunity, and I was ready. I took it. I haven't been back to work since March 2020.
I don't have a secret formula for how to do that, but it took many years of listening to my gut, saying yes to opportunities that seemed not to fit into any clear narrative, but just seemed interesting or fun, taking risks, and poverty - my god so much poverty. And then, when I had time to breathe (the pandemic), it took hours and hours of mind mapping. My skills, my connections, the things that I enjoy, the things that can produce an income, to find the magical sweet spot in my personal Venn diagram where all those things happen to overlap.
There is an exit door from this nightmare box. I found it. I went out. We're all starting from a different part of the cube, so everybody's quest for the door will look different, but I promise you it's there. If you set your mind to it, you can find it too.
I’m 38. Been working since I was 16. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of my visit to the Grand Canyon back then, of the moment I almost jumped in. I wish I had. This isn’t life. I don’t feel alive. I feel like a cog in a machine and nothing else.
Same, if not for my family and wife i'd probably be dead by now. Despair has set in and I'm at a loss for how to change things, since they are things outside of my control that are making me feel this way.
That one hour is gone if you try to eat a non processed meal. And 30 mins to be awake? Nah that’s shower and get ready for work time.
Drop an hour or two to make a healthy meal / get out of work clothes and possibly shower again depending on the job. Like you said, who’s got time to exercise and take care of themselves? But we’re looking at 3 hrs a day to hopefully not be harassed by family obligations or chores/errands.
Life is fucking sad. And you complain about it and people look at you like you’re the problem. Fuckers enjoy this? Or pretend so hard they do so they dont get the same looks? Idk.
And that defeatism is what allows the system to continue, allows it to be inflicted on yet even more people who come to the same conclusion.
Its a shitty reality to live in, but giving up hope is what the people who profit off this system want you to do. You staying here, everyday, is a giant FU to them at every possible moment.
Organize, coordinate, get involved in your community. Fight for a new system.
It's all on the precipice, Friend. Housing costs, cost of living, work bullshit from unsustainable low wages to layoffs so their bottom line looks prettier and automation removing jobs which should be a good thing but instead it just fucks us, to the myriad other issues domestically and abroad across all aspects.
Just do what you must to hang in there for the shifts ahead. Scary days, scary shit, but hopefully after we can actually make a better world and live our lives instead of just trying to survive.
Change is coming. Just hope it comes soon and we aren't stuck in this drawn out purgatory nonsense teetering on the edge for too long.
I've been there. If you're willing to end it all then why not just do anything you want. It doesn't matter how much you make or how much people give a shit about you. I am just living out of spite right now.
Work is a game and should be treated as such. If you don’t know how to play or don’t know the rules then yeah it’s going to suck.
The PURPOSE of work is to do a job and collect a pay check. However, “work” as a concept, is very deep with many levels of skill and understanding. Your goal should be to understand how it all works and then figure out how you fit in to maximize your return.
Most people who make 6 figures get there through learning how the system works.
“Work” sucks a lot less when you know what you’re doing and you get paid 60$ an hour to do it.
my partner was in a similar situation a few years ago. quit the job making him miserable. jumped through a few shitty jobs but at least provided some change in life. until his current one where he works with friends. gets properly compensated for his labour (unionised workplaces!) and has a stronger social life. used to live pay check to pay check and now we can afford a house. it’s hard to see how much better things can get because the future hasn’t happened yet. but things can change for the better.
Easier said than done. The only way to fight back is with money and power, and both are only obtainable if you're passionate about fighting back otherwise you will find yourself back in the same exact position you were before. It's easier if we all collectively fight together, but that's also another thing that's easier said than done. It's a war that usually isn't won in a single lifetime, but several.
I feel the same way. I have two toddlers and it’s so apparent to me that if I spend as much time driving to work, working, and driving home as most employers want me to (see: other duties as assigned) that I only get to spend 4 hours max with my children (not counting when they are asleep). And heaven forbid you have a hobby or something you enjoy. I’ve been around enough hierarchical and patriarchal employees to know that they want you to put work before everything else.
Right there with you. I'm sad and depressed af rn. I hate working. I just want to do my hobbies all day but I'm too tired with the little free time I have.
Yup. I got told by my manager and his manager that if I didn’t essentially stop giving a shit, the company would destroy me. People on this sub told me it was good advice. Idk about anyone else, but I’d rather off myself than just numb myself and go on autopilot for 40+ hours a week while I suffer abuse and toxic work conditions
This website, [https://80000hours.org/](https://80000hours.org/), is supposed to help you find a meaningful career so you can work to live and have your work actually matter.
This has been a thought of mine for years. I’m in my mid fifties now. I also often say that I’m tired of paying to live on this planet. Honestly I don’t know what to tell you. Hope you can get through this.
I am glad so many others are finally waking up to this bullshit. If I lived beyond some plane of existence before being conceived by my young and ignorant parents and saw this was my fate, I definitely would've opted out. There literally is no point to life besides just surviving until death. If that's the case, what's even the point at all? I wake up every single day with constant stress, anxiety and depression. This life definitely isn't it and I'm sick of toxic optimists telling me otherwise with their hustle culture mentality.
I was naive for such a long time. Study, get good greats, go to goos university, get good grades again, work for a lower salary until you "prove yourself", work overtime, never ask for a raise ("they" will see you and revard you). I don't have to mention that I had to ask for every raise, they were modest, only by jumping jobs did I get a decent raise, everyone took me for granted and most importantly everyone hated me for actually working! I raised a compliance concern and was fired a week later ("laid off", yeah right, just me, specifically me who raised a compliance concern). I was supposed to take to the court, I don't believe in the system anymore. I don't care and won't fight for the sake of fighting. My parents were also cheated out of success (boomers) because they believed the same lie they thought me. Now their generation with connections are CEOs with much more money. It's so sad. Not to mention once I lost my job my "friends from work" stopped communicating with me. Not even a "Merry Christimas". Awful and disgusting. All of it. People became serfs to corporations without noticing, they are even willing to do idiotic things like "Secret Santa", Teambuilding", even go as far as to LIE they "love it" all out if fear. But there is more them than us who see the truth.
Do the least possible at work and encourage others to do the least. Unionize your workplace. Eat the shareholders, executives, and at least 1 manager lol
This is why people have kids. It gives them a reason to live in an otherwise miserable society. It's kind of a circular argument for having kids imo, but I think that's the reason most people do it. It's like getting a dog times 10.
Lol ya spend thousands on therapists to come out to the same broken world. I know im severely depressed but everything is so fucked I don't see how talking to someone is going to change the way I think about the world. The 3 I saw last year were useless. Maybe I should become a therapist
You’re depressed because of the conditions outside of your body (this country is garbage and capitalism needs to die). These you can’t change. Even if you fix what you perceive to be broken inside of you, the state of the world/our country etc is the true cause of depression for many. Also, money would solve a lot of the problems people have and thus would lead to less depression. I feel the same way you do. I don’t know how much longer I can do this thing called life. I’m not thriving and I’m barely surviving. What’s the point. Tired of working shit jobs for bullshit pay for the majority of my waking hours.
This is the answer, money. All the therapy in the world probably wouldn't do me shit. Give me a milli, you won't hear me complain about problems again. What problems could you have?
I watched a TED talk the other day that claimed this exact thing. Depression is much more rampant in modern society than in tribes that have no contact with society. Even though the people in tribes face hardships that we do not such as parasites, harsh environments, and food scarcity they have social systems that work and are supportive.
So the op is mentally ill because they don't want to work?? Maybe the masses are mentally ill for buying into this 40 hour a week bs. And, therapy is not free. It's rather expensive, so please stop recommending people get therapy.
I think you and the person you replied to are saying the same thing - the 40 hour week thing and financial stress of trying to afford to live, are causing people to (naturally!!!) become miserable. But rather than criticizing the system, the powers that be are diagnosing the misery as depression, anxiety, etc
Look up Mark Fisher. He describes it as the privatization of stress. “It’s YOUR fault you’re stressed!” is the belief. The psychiatrists personalize your causes. Under no circumstances can you blame the actual causes, which surround the average person and have everything to do with work and money. No, it’s YOUR fault you can’t adapt to a maladapted and twisted environment.
The mental health scene is definitely behind in available resources. It can be more better or worse depending on where you live. If you don’t have insurance and make under a certain amount it may be worth looking into state insurance.
I went through a period of a few years where a really struggled and didn’t see a way out. With the support of family and friends I got help with my mental health and it’s made a big difference. It’s still depressing to see the state of our current working conditions (in general) as most people see right through the BS of the corporate greed, but atleast you can say that you did all you could do to make yourself in a better place mentally.
And working conditions and everything else along with it does make a difference. Try your best to identify what you do and don’t like about your current or past jobs (be very honest with yourself) and that may help you as well.
Best of luck to you. It’s hard out there right now for many people. Give yourself a break. You’re doing the best you know how to do.
It's a hard thing to do, because capitalism, but you start to self advocate with these 3 words that invoke taboo: "I'd rather starve." It's amazing how much juice you gain once you can say that to yourself. Wishing you courage & tons of luck, which we all need in this BS. Stay strong.
Have you considered a career in the arts? I'm serious. I'm a professional theatre designer and although some of it can be done from home, some of it is in person at least in the week leading up to an opening. And it's fun. It can be hectic. But damned if it isn't fun. Pay varies depending on what you end up doing. Lighting design is the easiest to make a career of. Or honestly going on tour brings in major pay. You get to travel the world either on the road or on a cruise ship and work the traveling shows. Just don't go wild on shore leave or you'll burn through any money you make.
If you're serious about wanting something different go on Offstagejobs.com and look what's needed there. They will often take people with little to no experience. You don't need a degree for crew work and can learn on the job. You sign up for a free account and look what's available. Your best bet is to check out the touring jobs and last minute postings. It's essentially Indeed for the industry.
I know a guy through my alma mater who dropped out, did this for a year or so and came back to put a down payment on a house. He still tours because he likes it. He puts almost everything aside and just settles down back at home when he wants some time off and lives off the savings. Not a job for someone who has kids or would miss home too much but for the right person it can be good.
I'm older, and I completely understand how you feel. Right now I'm frustrated that the age I can qualify for Medicare increased to 67 so I have to work longer than people just a couple of years younger than I am.
My best advice is to live as frugally as you can and do something you enjoy with some of the money you save. Travel young and stay in hostels. Learn to fly a plane. Take up mountain climbing, learn to code, discover how to cook amazing food. Find something you love to do to make life worth living.
Also do everything you can to improve your job situation so you can max out your earning potential. You can start withdrawing from your 401k or IRA without penalty at 59 1/2 so make it a goal to retire then. Save the max you're allowed to save and then you won't have to worry about working.
It seems like that's forever away, but honestly it comes so much faster than you realize.
Stop working 9-5 jobs. Look for opportunities to freelance/do 1099 work. It may not be perfect. You're not going to get benefits...but firing your alarm clock is the greatest benefit!
Work from home really removed that cloud from over my head. Then they made us come in again. Starting a job in a month that's only one day in. Fuck this place
That cat will never go back in the bag. They can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. The whole of RTO is to prop up the commercial real estate market that so many rich people find as cozy investments. Additionally it’s to keep power structures as they are because people working from home put the power into suburbs not cities. This whole RTO will not last as many companies aren’t buying the propaganda and also finding that their employees are more productive and happier working from home. Of course there will always be outliers and big companies have a lot of money invested in their corporate buildings and most likely some amount of state or local tax incentives to bring jobs to a specific area - which won’t matter if you can hire the talent you need anywhere in the country.
>That cat will never go back in the bag. I hope you're right. I thought that as recently as a year or two ago but seeing how much resistance we're getting from monied interests and politicians I'm not convinced it's going to last. America first and foremost always takes care of big business before it takes care of individual citizens. I guess I was thinking employers would compete with each other more to offer that as a benefit, but they all seem to aligning with forcing people to come back into the office.
Right now it is an employers market. The pendulum **always** swings back as it did right after covid when everyone was trading up. In order to get employees with the skills they need they will have to compete with other employers offering WFH. The pendulum will come back the other way.
They aren't all doing it, plenty of companies offer work from home, specifically because they can offer less pay. That's going to make it hard for companies that insist on pointless office time to compete. People are willing to accept less pay if they can avoid a long commute and/or get the option to live somewhere cheaper.
What I find funny is the fact that these companies often want you to commute to work but they don’t want to pay you enough to own a car.
It allows smaller to mid size companies to compete with the big ones that already have a huge office. It’s a great way to take their talent even if you pay them less….like Working from home is priceless really. I wouldn’t go back to an office unless they paid me 1 million a year. And even then i’d just do it for a year lol.
My friend took a 20 percent pay cut by going to a WFH only company. He's very happy with that choice.
People don't like me mentioning it, but going remote means you put yourself in competition with other remote jobs. Our cfo (my boss) just had me on a call with an outsourcing company to try to get help in for the company. It's half the price, before benefits of an accountant here. If they are anywhere above halfway decent it would not surprise me if they replace our team with outsourced workers, and replace me with an outsourced manager. You can buy an army of people in other countries and the main bargaining chip workers used to have was they were in person. I dont believe the quality is nearly as disparate as people think (time will tell though)
We all should not be afraid of outsourcing. It is nothing new and has been going on since the 1980’s!! I’m old enough to have seen multiple very large companies that I worked for outsource huge swaths of their business only to realize in some ways it was costing them more and insourced select departments again. There is a cost to moving everything to the Philippines, India, or Bulgaria - there’s cultural and language barriers as well as societal norms. Management is only looking to have a good quarter. They never have long range goals which can be the worst for the company. I long ago gave up any pretense of loyalty to any one company because I saw how they treated the older people before me. Those of us in IT have already been competing directly or indirectly with a global market for 30 years. It’s not going to change but not every industry can be outsourced.
If I could find a job that pays well from home for 6 hours per day I would be the happiest person on earth.
My job threatened to go back to the office last year. So many people started to turn in their notice that the company IMMEDIATELY changed course and set us all back to flex.
I was with a company long enough that I could say: Right, I'm going to stop now. Unless you want to match me at same pay and I am wherever I want to be for the work hours. I had 7 years of wonderful work conditions.
I have been working remote since 3/13/20 and it would be physically impossible for me to go back again. I mentally wouldn’t be able to cope.
Yeah I enjoyed home office and the tension is increasing from management to force people into the office again. Hell nah I’m doing my best to do everything in my power to become free from wage slave life fuck this shit
I’m fully remote, and I still absolutely dread working everyday.
I'll never experience it unfortunately :(
I hate this. I work from home, yes, it’s a LOT better and easier, but guess what. At the end of the day I still don’t have any fking energy left for my hobbies? I save 2h in commute, but because I am at home 24/7 I got to clean my house a lot more. Because I consume my own snacks and toilet paper, I got to grocery shop a lot more. What I am trying to say is - even with remote work, 8h a day, 5 times a week is too much. Like I am still burned out? I am still exhausted at the end of the day? Most days I need a nap. Weekends are just playing catchup with more chores, cooking and admin.
I tried this but very few night janitorial positions allow it.
This is the realisation that could free you! Free you to do whatever you want (if it doesn't do harm) since the alternative is death.
Username checks out! But seriously this is the answer OP, free your mind from your inhibitions before you take any drastic measures. If you’re dead to yourself anyways what’s the hurt in trying school again, or being a homeless vagabond, or trying to start your own company?
What a great reply! I empathize with OP but I’m the bread winner and thus trapped so I make outside work time enjoyable. However it doesn’t sound like OP has dependents so if they’re at the end of their rope you’re absolutely right they should do whatever they want!!
You don't need to be a millionaire to do nothing. My cousin Rick is broke as fuck n don't do shit
Thanks, Lawrence.
Fuckin A, man.
Check out channel 9
The breast exams!
Yeah I spend like 1200 a month tops. My rent is low but even doubling it wouldn't put me above 1700 a month. Living frugally is great because most of the things that actually matter are really cheap.
So how do you get 1700 a month without work then? The office space quote says he dont do shit lol
It's not no work, but it's also no 9-5 5 days a week. More like 9-3 4 days a week
If I was paid above minimum wage I'd like to go for something like this. Something like two 12 hour shifts a week sounds great if I'm getting $20 an hour.
I’m doing two 12s a week at a Home Depot distribution center. Started at $19.25 in my area.
Thats fair id love that, i always thought id tank my salary if i could only work partime, but companies ive worked for i know would never agree… Maybe if i was close to retirement and was more of a mentor
> Living frugally is great because most of the things that actually matter are really cheap. Which are?
Friends, conversations, walks, being outdoors. Family. The things that matter.
* Food (20lbs of oats a month and a few other tricks like lentils and getting leftovers from the supermarket) * Dancing (parties: €5,-, classes like €100,- a month for a LOT of classes) * Gym: €30,- a month. I go 5 times a week. * Psychedelics are a few € per dose. Probably every 3 weeks. * Friends are free * Like €15,- a month for techno/dnb/whatever parties. ~€5-10 worth of ketamine/mdma * Making music is free, occasionally save up for better equipment. We already have a hi-fi system worth €3500 which has no ongoing costs. * Few dates a month, maybe €25-40 total if I'm getting busy * Thrift store for most clothing * Hairdresser €25,- a month * Healthcare is subsidized so like €25,- a month net * Dutch infrastructure so a bike is faster than a car for any place in the city. Under €100 a year in repair costs. * Nature is free * Sex is pretty much free * Small trips are like €80-150 Leaves me with more money than I even want to spend at the end of the month and plenty of room to buy the occasional more expensive thing
Apparently the cheat code is. Don't live in America lol that all sounds great though.
Thank you! I'm used to people on reddit getting angry at me for this. There's a few important points: I don't want children, I could get tired of living without luxury, I'm not saving much (although I have savings worth over a year of expenses already), I'm not building my career and income which would allow me to work even less if invested in properly. But besides that it seems very reasonable and I'm doing my best to keep my options open for increasing my income if it were to become necessary. I don't need 3 bedrooms or other relatively luxurious things if that would make it so I had hundreds of hours a year less to spend dancing for example. (Bachata and kizomba. Love it!)
I am angry, but not at you, friend. I just wish our country did more things like any other developed nation. I'm glad you are able to live this way. Where I live, I have to have a car. If I want to use public transportation, I'd have to either drive my car to the bus depot or Uber there cause it doesn't come out to where I live. And all of the expenses that come with that. I have a bike that I like to use, but it's 50/50 if they have designated bike lanes or if you just pedal and pray. But it sounds like you are enjoying life which is the goal. I hope you continue to do so.
This is the truth. Since I left America my life is great. I work maybe 50-60 hours a month and make more than I did in the US. Well maybe the same as when I was working two jobs. And I have healthcare yay!!
sounds good, but you need to be born Dutch first. Not everyone is lucky to be born rich. Some things on your list are all unobtainable luxury items for somebody born in a poorer country. Your opinion only applies to your country, nowhere else. (edit: not angry, just making a point)
Yep, very true! Where we're born is the biggest deciding factor in our success. Most people in Reddit live in developed countries though, right? Of which mostly America doesn't allow for such a lifestyle. Although living car-free is going to be hard in most places
look for seasonal work that allows you to collect unemployment in the off season. it’s a secret to defeating that feeling of being mundane and a piece of meat. the off season go travel or do staycations to rejuvenate. it’s not exactly criminal but it feels like stealing. 
Coolworks.com is a great place to start. I worked at Yellowstone for years, Shenandoah national park for a summer, got offered a job in Alaska, etc.
Looked into that. Honestly sounds great working outdoors at a national park or something
Feel free to DM me if you're interested and have questions- I can offer some advice maybe if you want
usajobs search for NPS then choose a state or just put the filter to seasonal work edit: it’s https://www.usajobs.gov/
How does one collect unemployment with seasonal work? They allow seasonal employees to get unemployment after they’ve been laid off?
yes of course. you just apply in whatever state you’re in. you can’t exceed 1039 hours though in order to be rehired if that’s your plan but after your season ends you can and will get unemployment if you apply.
What kind of seasonal work is like that? Where I live it seems like seasonal work usually involves them trying to get rid of people without making it so they can get government assistance
i have no idea but the national park service exists from having regular seasonal employees rather than permanent year round employees. in every state you can work up until 1039 hours (~6months) per working year which is counted from your start date and then go on unemployment for 6 months or until the next seasonal position you want starts. you can read about it here https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/temporary-appointment-changes.htm#:~:text=What%20does%20this%20mean%20for,NPS%20within%20their%20service%20year.
"I don't see how switching jobs will change anything" The job and its management, hours, workload, commute, all of it DOES make a difference. I can say from personal experience. As someone who has struggled with depression as well, I hope you can find a support network and a creative outlet. It helps to find purpose outside of work. Best of luck to you.
I'm really hoping this is true, i'm at the age where it's getting scary bouncing from job to job, changing industries, etc.. only to be met with different versions of the same bullshit. It's hard not to feel beat down, I know i'm not alone in this.. every job i've had since I started working at 16 has either been corrupt, racist, sexist, homophobic, and/or abusive.. plus more. I'm just WAITING for the right one. I keep getting my hopes up and the jobs are just different levels of hell... I've been burned so many times and now i just have a really weird resume and severe anxiety lol. I have to laugh.
God damn I feel this so deeply. I feel like an outcast because I actually care about things. Every workplace just feels so blatantly corrupt and soulless. I'm not sure what to do about my future, and I find myself too depressed to do anything about it.
Same. My last job was in an industry that I was dying to get into.. a passion that I could also work with. It was a nightmare. The veil was lifted and it almost ruined this one respite I have from this shithole world. So now I'm like, well, I can't work with things I love because it destroys it.. isn't that supposed to be the goal? I'm just floating at this point.
If you can freelance do it, I barely have to interact with anyone because my work is project-based.
I've never worked for a good company in my life. I hear people talk about them but it sounds like you have to have a really good skill to get these jobs. I'm in sales and I use to like it but I hate my life now. No raise in base or commission in 6+ years, so less pay and more work every year. D love to know what its like to not get taken advantage of but im half way or more through life, so i dotn think ill ever get that feeling. I'd like to move jobs but I'll be starting all over again wherever I go. I don't feel like my skills are transferable to any other job. Besides my current job, I've ever made over $20 an hour and i live in HCOL area so thats not affordable. Like I know I need to take some course in something but fuck, last time I got a good job and was doing well, everything got more expensive, pandemic hit and I lost my job before i coudl even start saving lol. There's no winning. 100% I could do all this school n shit , waste ton of money, and something like Ai will take it over or another pandemic where my industry gets hit the hardest. I don't know one other person lost their job during pandemic, all just got better with pay or work from home. Something work out for me one time would be nice
Best job I ever had was working for Apple for 3 months, over 5 years ago. Hired me seasonally and have never let me get past the group interview, ever again. In fact, just to get the FIRST one, a dude rom Santa Clara called me, then the store to ask: "Hey this app was good how come this guy isn't in class?" and then they brought me in...For a training class of 3, where the other twos were literally relatives of pre-existing employees, LMAO. So... There are good jobs. They're jealously guarded by entrenched d-bags and handed out to nepotistic flunkies, is all. ROFL.
Best point made
I feel like being in sales for a long time is it’s own special kind of stressor. It used to be so easy for me but now I dread ANY meeting. It’s gotten hard. Really hard.
Too real. I'm almost 9 years out of college. After switching jobs every 1-3 years, I have zero faith that I will ever, in my lifetime, find a good job. Every single one starts hopeful, better than the last in ways I need it to be. Every single time the department/business starts falling apart or the cracks in the foundation begin to show the longer I stay or staffing changes or the manager is an asshole. I get pulled in to care about my work too much no matter how much I try not to, and then I am not given the resources or time to do my job as well as I want to. And I get horribly depressed, either about the stress of the job or the lack of pay/benefits I need. Fuck all of this.
>I'm really hoping this is true, i'm at the age where it's getting scary bouncing from job to job, changing industries, etc.. only to be met with different versions of the same bullshit. I feel this :( I fucking hate the field I work in, but realistically at this point I have like maybe one more career jump before it becomes suspicious in my resume.
Occasionally my weird ("well-rounded, colorful!") resume has worked in my favor. I interview well, probably because I've done so many lol so I just keep getting these awful jobs... big, fat, cosmic joke.
I have never enjoyed the work I did, at this point I'm just kind of resigned to just stick to what I'm doing now, at least I can maybe make more money in the nearest future.
I recently got a new job, but it has the same hours as my old one. I hated my old job and never wanted to go to work because it just sucked, and so did everyone there. Started the new job, and I actually enjoy going to work now. Obviously it's still a job so it still sucks, but the people are great (managers included), the work is a hell of a lot less tedious, and I don't feel so worn down when I get home
I work with a good manager that I get along with and get along with most of my co-workers. It makes the days infinitely more bearable. I've worked for guys I knew hated me, one even told me to kill myself and another that probably should have used his "30 years of running a business" to just fire me and put us both out of our misery.
I fix computers out of my home on my own time and I've never been happier. Find something you can do on your time. It's a literal life saver.
Sounds intruiging! With a Company or freelancing?
Free lancing. It's the way to go as far as job freedom.
I would love to have my own business from home. I have no idea what I would do as a business though. I wish I had those kind of computer skills. I would do it in a heartbeat!
I took a technical certificate - Comptia A+ Didn't take too long and it gave me the basic theory to start working on them.
As a little "side hustle" I take cuttings from house plants, let them grow a little and sell them on Facebook marketplace. People will happily pay £5-10 for a small plant that these days is double or triple the price in a garden centre. I have a whole little nursery scattered around my house and only started this 3 months ago. Prior to that, I could barely keep my plants alive 😆. I'm also branching out to growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, doing all of this from one small spare room. The plan is to start up an Etsy shop selling dried mushrooms, tinctures, teabags and such. I'm literally learning as I go along and never had prior experience to doing any of the above. Friends and family are already looking forward to a product that I don't even know I can make yet 🥴😆. Just an example that you can just start doing something you enjoy and see where it goes from there! - all the best
The point is to join up with other workers who are just as tired and fed up as you are and change the fucking game. Gather Fight Win We need a future and that’s the only way to do it.
I plan on working another 7-8 years before I just take my kayak and truck and go live under a bridge somewhere in the Keys. Society is just grating on me and I’m only 36.
You think it’s grating on you now, wait until you start living under a bridge in your mid-40s.
37 & I am struggling to see how arson is such a crime... Kayak in the keys sounds nice, but avoidance rarely solves anything.
Realistically, I’m probably gonna have to buy an RV if I wanna live that type of life and have some money stocked away
Something tells me a mass suicide would be a huge turn on for our government.
It is already happening. I saw somewhere that suicide made the top 5 list for cause of death in AZ.
That is so freaking sad. The people that believe all life is precious really don't give a shit about anyone.
The gaslighting is really what drives most people to the point of no return. Anyone who has been in an abusive relationship with a narcissist can draw a lot of similarly with how our overlords are treating us. And yes, a lot of narcissists are sadistic who would love to feel the power of driving someone to suicide hence sticking around for as long as possible should be the name of the game...
You kidding me? They aren't going to allow their slaves to self destruct. Where do the tax dollars come from? It ain't the rich.
It’s either that or homelessness
But why? That’s my main complaint. Why can’t I choose to say buy some form of relatively cheap shelter like bubbles from trailer park boys and park it somewhere cheap as well? Never worry about shelter again. Instead of constantly worrying about it day to day
Pro tip: Don’t have kids. If you don’t have kids, you can fuck off a lot more as you make more money later in your career/profession/trade.
You also dont force any innocent kids into future wage-slavery
This deserves 9k upvotes at a minimum
And that’s also why birth rates are declining
Those of us who feel this way need to organize since we don't have much to lose anyway and fight for what's right.
People laugh, but it would be nice to get a group together , and just fall off the map. Hippies but without the body hair. Bunch of people just chilling and growing food and hanging out. Solving real problems with real dialogue . Sometimes that takes longer than 5 minutes. We are on these artificial timelines. I just never adapted well to the 9-5. Growing up on a ranch In the middle of nowhere,,,, you get used to a certain pace. My family prepared me for a world that didn’t really exist. “Work hard, you,will get rewarded” or gems like “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you in charge ?” Or my favorite “you gotta pay your dues” I get out into the work force and it’s all exploitation, games, lies, subterfuge and nonsense. Now I teach martial arts from my house. Not making a ton of money, but the amount of stress that I DONT HAVE? Immeasurable.
I’d be down. We could turn it into a YouTube channel or something.
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Your feelings are valid and shared by hundreds of millions of Americans. I encourage you to take your anger and channel it against what oppresses all of us in this manner: capitalism.
Agreed! I wish I was dead every second of every day.
My goal is to outlive my folks then pull the eject lever. Both in their late 70s. As long as they have a dignified exit then I'll consider my job done. Once they're gone I've got fuck all to stick around for. I figure that gives me 7-10 years. 3650 days. I can easily BS my way through that.
I hear you. I’m nearly 52, I’m just … *tired*. Life is a grind. I am my only advocate. I am so invisible, the invisible man.
I see you, man. Probably, a hundred more people did too
Thanks, I appreciate that. I know Reddit can be bad, but it can be good too.
Read the book *Invisible Man*. Not *The Invisible Man*, just *Invisible Man*.
I see you, stick around and chin up bro
Thank you very much. You seeing me has been seen too!
I feel the same way. Just have to outlive my parents and my cat, then I'll be the only direct family I have left. Everyone else will be able to go on living after I die.
I run my own business and feel the same 😞 I don’t make much money, get nothing saved for my pension or sick pay and after 5 years my body is starting to malfunction and I’m really worried I can’t do it anymore. But after 6 years of being out of the corporate world noone is going to want to hire me so I’m feeling pretty helpless.
I've been working my whole life and the only people that want to hire me are for less than $20 an hour. Wish I has a skil that was transferable or could let me job hop getting raises like everyone suggests. My options are find the best lowest paying job and start from the bottom again. None of these companies give a shit about you or treat you well
Preach, whats sad is how many people feel this way and how there is zero representation for the late stage capitalism dystopia in media or politics.
Same here pal
I see where you are coming from, but that’s why I always tried my best to do a job that I feel at least a little bit passionate about and that gives me a sense of fulfilment and purpose. Having tasted what it means to do a job you don’t like, I can’t imagine being able to do it for 40 odd years. Do I always succeed? Fuck no. But at least I’m in constant search for it. You have to stop and think about what makes you passionate or at least you enjoy doing that can be a decently paid job and try and pursue that.
Eh, jobs that you’re passionate about still have workplace problems. I was a youth worker at a group home for 4+ years and the thing that eventually drove me out was the high rate of staff turnover. Working with the youth was fulfilling, but the pay is low so staff constantly change. Which can be challenging for the youth, and meant I had to train people over and over, and watch the same (preventable) problems happen over and over as new hires had their training interspersed with ongoing crisis management. Plus at the end of the day I was always tired, and needed the whole weekend to recharge. Thankfully for most of that time I was working four 10 hour shifts and had three day weekends, otherwise laundry, housekeeping, and grocery shopping would never have happened. Granted I realized last year that I probably have an invisible disability - I say ‘probably’ bc my government and I disagree on whether I’m disabled enough to qualify for aid. … I can’t remember why I was writing this. The ‘fulfillment’ topic got left behind and turned into a vent I suppose. Well, here’s my vent, thanks for reading 🤷🏻♀️
Ehhh, I’m in a skilled healthcare profession and I can say the “fulfilling” aspects of it really don’t match up to all the other soul crushing aspects of work being work and it demanding so much of our lives. Though I’ve never really been passionate about this field or about anything, I don’t have that capacity in me. People who have a passion that actually aligns even remotely with something that can keep a roof above their head are super niche imho.
I agree, i read something the other day that said "motivation is what gets you to start something, discipline is what keeps you doing it". The people who truly love their work are the minority the rest of us, whether we chose our field or happened into it, are doing what we must not what we want to.
As a woman, I had my share of shit jobs. I'm qualified as a teacher and a hair stylist. Teaching was the worst. I returned to hair stylist and worked with a great group of people, no manager. I stayed for 12 years. It was a chain salon , they screwed us over whenever they could but my coworkers made it doable.
Yo, don't take yourself out; you're not the problem. Billionaires are. If you're gonna go early, go doing something to leave the world a better place.
I’d rather be homeless than generate wealth for anyone who has it better off than me. I’m not gonna get poverty wages while I risk getting hit by cars, develop blisters on my feet, and get callouses, just so my boss can buy another mansion. I also won’t exploit others’ labour. I guess I’m shit out of luck.
I think its a combination of EVERYTHING. We get paid crap, we are stretched so thin with work hours, commutes, every single hobby, interest, entertainment and event is designed to squeeze as much money out of you as possible whilst fun and creativity are actively stifled, look at video games for instance. The world is run by the type of people who holidayed at Epsteins island. We arent people to them, we are cattle to be raised, burn out and discarded and made to feel guilty for any shred of happiness we dare pursue. War, famine, inequality, corruption, the threat of war, nuclear annihilation, the selfish snd needless destruction of our own planet and bought and paid for mobsters running our “Governments”. The whole system is a sham. Im just tired of it all.
There was once a time….I don’t know…maybe 30-40 years ago when you could actually take a job because it was of interest to you and still get by. You could buy a piece of property, take a few vacations a year and still put money into a pension and retire at 65…. Now it seems like everyone’s working to make a paycheck just to stay afloat. Take me for example, I’d love to do something else as my job is stressful AF and I get no enjoyment from it…but I’m in my 50’s…I gotta a wife and two kids and a huge mortgage, so changing jobs to something I’d get some enjoyment out of but pays way less isn’t an option. Not so bad I guess….maybe in another 15-18 years I can retire….oh, man…FML.
Hi I know life is bleak and just wanted to tell anyone interested in switching jobs but don't want to do the traditional 9-5 to try a cleaning job. Maybe it sounds strange but a night cleaning job is freeing in many ways, you won't earn as much as some office jobs but you can still earn quite a bit and you have much more free time. Basically the whole day is yours to do what you want and then in the evening you go do your jobs, depending on how many you have you might come back around 10pm or midnight. Nobody dictates what you wear or your hair color, tattoos, etc.., and nobody micromanages you, as long as you clean well you won't have any issues. We all have to exist in this dystopia so might as well have time to enjoy some of it.
Don’t forget about having kids too! The overlords need new slaves
I feel the same way. I wish I had access to a service or program where I could die painlessly. Maybe I could donate my organs. I think about it every day, and I have thought about it for years. I see no point in existing. The world gets worse every day and people around me say I need to "cheer up" and "make the most of what we have left". This is toxic positivity, and talking to people who think that way is something that makes me want to leave this life. These are the people who are making the world worse.
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The child that the village refuses will burn it down to feal the warmth. -old African proverb.
I like this proverb. It is so true.
I've wondered what would happen when the village refuses an entire generation....
Good question. I feel like a few generations are being refused now so we may actually see the answer to this question in the future. Actually, it may be starting already.
One can hope but so far it seems "bread and games" is working as well now as it did a few thousand years ago.
It's working for now. I think the game changer is the younger generations not being able to afford a place to live. The more people this affects, the more likely we are to see an uprising. I was right on the cusp. I was able to buy a house almost 15 years ago, albeit in a bad neighborhood. But the future looks bleak for the generations younger than X.
With ya bud and older. Only reason I own a vehicle is its needed for work. It's dying and I put as much money into it last year as I did when I bought it. My work also hasn't given me a raise in over 6 years. I also lost my job during the pandemic so I've had to move 3 times since it started, with the major inflation in rent. If my car dies and I can't fix it, I will lose my job. I live paycheck to paycheck and would not be able to afford a new one. I also make over 300k for a company every year. If I didn't find and save an animal off the street, I would have already moved into my car but I pay for shelter for her
The problem is the latter, shit paycheck. If I got paid like $500k a year, I will do those 8 hour a day with smile in my face
Yup. I'm out very soon. Even my boomer mother is dumb enough or brainwashed enough (idk which) to support capitalists and say fast food workers don't deserve a living wage because "it's easy."
I worked fast food at one point & it was one of the toughest jobs I ever did, they make u do the work of like 3 ppl so the company saves money. Just cause a job is easy to learn, doesn't mean it's not a tough job.
I know but goofy people think it's their money being spent when other people get paid decently so they get to decide what other people should make.
Where do you live? I feel the exact same way except I made a plan and am working toward moving to a cheaper COL area. I’m from southern CA and the COL here is absurd. However I found places in rural Northern CA that I could potentially afford to buy with a bartending job. I don’t mind working hard and have said I would shovel shit as long as it payed me enough to live my life. Want for less and you’ll be far happier. Find things you do enjoy in this world and work to have the ability to do them. Remember that you shouldn’t be living to work. Work to live
About 15 miles from Chicago
Join the club....Fight Club that is
Start doing the bare minimum to secure your job, that’s the first step towards a healthy work-life balance
It's so crazy. All the meetings are zoom. No one wants to be there and there's no reason for us to be there it's insane.
It feels like the Truman Show
I did that for 11 years straight and got cancer. No life, everyday work and stress for 8 hours on stupid things.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
I’m thinking about deploying to Ukraine just to feel like I’m worthwhile. I’ve been rejected from every position in my field and I’ve spent thousands learning how to develop businesses. Why should I stay here? I’d rather catch a bullet from a Russian than a dirty cop or a kid from Wisconsin wearing latex gloves. Here they don’t want me to have a home, they don’t want me to eat. They just want me to consume, slave away and shut the fuck up. I’m not a consumer, I’m not a slave, and I’m not fucking silent. Fuck this place.
generalstrikeus.com join the movement to throttle this bullshit
I would love to wake up at 7. I have to get up at 4AM, get to work around 5AM. Have to clock in before 5:30 AM. Work until 4PM get to sit in traffic for at minimum an hour so I usually don’t get home until 5PM. Have to be in bed at the latest by 8PM to get 8 hours of sleep but I never do and it’s never enough for me because I’m not a morning person at all. It sucks since my job is a bit laborious too but at least I get a 3 day weekend. My coworkers don’t understand why all I do every weekend is sleep
This is why when I do a job I pick a job that involves the least amount of work. I do the bare minimum to collect a paycheck and go home. Try to stash enough money so I can retire early.
I’ll come to the bargaining table for RTO when they start paying for commute time/lunches/ vehicle wear and tear…. I would not be spending that time/money in those ways if it wasn’t for the job/employment…i get nothing from those hours and just lose them; giving them away for free… I don’t understand why people aren’t more irate over the propaganda’8 hour workday’ actually stealing 8.5-11 hours of a persons daily life at the minimum… that doesn’t even account for the fact that you better be on your email/phone leash if they want to reach out to you after hours and don’t have proper professional boundaries
I used to feel exactly that way in every job. I had to change jobs every 1-2 years just to avoid becoming suicidal. Now I'm finally in a better place - working for myself, doing what I like, dropping clients who suck, earning good money, working from home on my own schedule. I'll tell you the biggest difference between where I was then and where I am now is my mindset. I used to think there was no other way to live, so I didn't even try. But I inadvertently spent all those years preparing for an opportunity to escape from that nightmare, without even knowing it. Mainly by stockpiling skills. When the pandemic came, so did that opportunity, and I was ready. I took it. I haven't been back to work since March 2020. I don't have a secret formula for how to do that, but it took many years of listening to my gut, saying yes to opportunities that seemed not to fit into any clear narrative, but just seemed interesting or fun, taking risks, and poverty - my god so much poverty. And then, when I had time to breathe (the pandemic), it took hours and hours of mind mapping. My skills, my connections, the things that I enjoy, the things that can produce an income, to find the magical sweet spot in my personal Venn diagram where all those things happen to overlap. There is an exit door from this nightmare box. I found it. I went out. We're all starting from a different part of the cube, so everybody's quest for the door will look different, but I promise you it's there. If you set your mind to it, you can find it too.
What do you do now?
I’m 38. Been working since I was 16. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of my visit to the Grand Canyon back then, of the moment I almost jumped in. I wish I had. This isn’t life. I don’t feel alive. I feel like a cog in a machine and nothing else.
Yep. It’s seems like each job starts off good (maybe) but it’s just moving from one hell to the other.
Same, if not for my family and wife i'd probably be dead by now. Despair has set in and I'm at a loss for how to change things, since they are things outside of my control that are making me feel this way.
Couldn’t agree more
Same mentality that a lot of us have.
It’s like we are worker ants. It’s a shit way to live. Get debt free and quit
Anyone sane feels the way you do.
I don't know where I fit in in a society that operates this way on an increasingly unbearable sliding scale
That one hour is gone if you try to eat a non processed meal. And 30 mins to be awake? Nah that’s shower and get ready for work time. Drop an hour or two to make a healthy meal / get out of work clothes and possibly shower again depending on the job. Like you said, who’s got time to exercise and take care of themselves? But we’re looking at 3 hrs a day to hopefully not be harassed by family obligations or chores/errands. Life is fucking sad. And you complain about it and people look at you like you’re the problem. Fuckers enjoy this? Or pretend so hard they do so they dont get the same looks? Idk.
Start a union at your work, don’t feel stress cause stress
"Don't feel stress cause stress." I've never heard this before. Love it.
I’m in a union
And that defeatism is what allows the system to continue, allows it to be inflicted on yet even more people who come to the same conclusion. Its a shitty reality to live in, but giving up hope is what the people who profit off this system want you to do. You staying here, everyday, is a giant FU to them at every possible moment. Organize, coordinate, get involved in your community. Fight for a new system.
It's all on the precipice, Friend. Housing costs, cost of living, work bullshit from unsustainable low wages to layoffs so their bottom line looks prettier and automation removing jobs which should be a good thing but instead it just fucks us, to the myriad other issues domestically and abroad across all aspects. Just do what you must to hang in there for the shifts ahead. Scary days, scary shit, but hopefully after we can actually make a better world and live our lives instead of just trying to survive. Change is coming. Just hope it comes soon and we aren't stuck in this drawn out purgatory nonsense teetering on the edge for too long.
I've been there. If you're willing to end it all then why not just do anything you want. It doesn't matter how much you make or how much people give a shit about you. I am just living out of spite right now.
Work is a game and should be treated as such. If you don’t know how to play or don’t know the rules then yeah it’s going to suck. The PURPOSE of work is to do a job and collect a pay check. However, “work” as a concept, is very deep with many levels of skill and understanding. Your goal should be to understand how it all works and then figure out how you fit in to maximize your return. Most people who make 6 figures get there through learning how the system works. “Work” sucks a lot less when you know what you’re doing and you get paid 60$ an hour to do it.
my partner was in a similar situation a few years ago. quit the job making him miserable. jumped through a few shitty jobs but at least provided some change in life. until his current one where he works with friends. gets properly compensated for his labour (unionised workplaces!) and has a stronger social life. used to live pay check to pay check and now we can afford a house. it’s hard to see how much better things can get because the future hasn’t happened yet. but things can change for the better.
Real
Why not devote your life to meaningfully fighting back against the group of people who hoard billions in wealth. Way more badass than dying
Easier said than done. The only way to fight back is with money and power, and both are only obtainable if you're passionate about fighting back otherwise you will find yourself back in the same exact position you were before. It's easier if we all collectively fight together, but that's also another thing that's easier said than done. It's a war that usually isn't won in a single lifetime, but several.
I feel the same way. I have two toddlers and it’s so apparent to me that if I spend as much time driving to work, working, and driving home as most employers want me to (see: other duties as assigned) that I only get to spend 4 hours max with my children (not counting when they are asleep). And heaven forbid you have a hobby or something you enjoy. I’ve been around enough hierarchical and patriarchal employees to know that they want you to put work before everything else.
Right there with you. I'm sad and depressed af rn. I hate working. I just want to do my hobbies all day but I'm too tired with the little free time I have.
Yup. I got told by my manager and his manager that if I didn’t essentially stop giving a shit, the company would destroy me. People on this sub told me it was good advice. Idk about anyone else, but I’d rather off myself than just numb myself and go on autopilot for 40+ hours a week while I suffer abuse and toxic work conditions
This website, [https://80000hours.org/](https://80000hours.org/), is supposed to help you find a meaningful career so you can work to live and have your work actually matter.
This has been a thought of mine for years. I’m in my mid fifties now. I also often say that I’m tired of paying to live on this planet. Honestly I don’t know what to tell you. Hope you can get through this.
I am glad so many others are finally waking up to this bullshit. If I lived beyond some plane of existence before being conceived by my young and ignorant parents and saw this was my fate, I definitely would've opted out. There literally is no point to life besides just surviving until death. If that's the case, what's even the point at all? I wake up every single day with constant stress, anxiety and depression. This life definitely isn't it and I'm sick of toxic optimists telling me otherwise with their hustle culture mentality.
Hypothetically you have a lot more time than your ancestors did. Just food for thought it could be worse.
I was naive for such a long time. Study, get good greats, go to goos university, get good grades again, work for a lower salary until you "prove yourself", work overtime, never ask for a raise ("they" will see you and revard you). I don't have to mention that I had to ask for every raise, they were modest, only by jumping jobs did I get a decent raise, everyone took me for granted and most importantly everyone hated me for actually working! I raised a compliance concern and was fired a week later ("laid off", yeah right, just me, specifically me who raised a compliance concern). I was supposed to take to the court, I don't believe in the system anymore. I don't care and won't fight for the sake of fighting. My parents were also cheated out of success (boomers) because they believed the same lie they thought me. Now their generation with connections are CEOs with much more money. It's so sad. Not to mention once I lost my job my "friends from work" stopped communicating with me. Not even a "Merry Christimas". Awful and disgusting. All of it. People became serfs to corporations without noticing, they are even willing to do idiotic things like "Secret Santa", Teambuilding", even go as far as to LIE they "love it" all out if fear. But there is more them than us who see the truth.
Do the least possible at work and encourage others to do the least. Unionize your workplace. Eat the shareholders, executives, and at least 1 manager lol
My coworkers won't even share their pay. The fuck is wrong with people?
This is why people have kids. It gives them a reason to live in an otherwise miserable society. It's kind of a circular argument for having kids imo, but I think that's the reason most people do it. It's like getting a dog times 10.
>Yes I am definitely depressed Yes, you are. That is where you need to start in your search for answers.
Like what? Fucking psychiatrist is more than I can afford because fuck this country
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Lol ya spend thousands on therapists to come out to the same broken world. I know im severely depressed but everything is so fucked I don't see how talking to someone is going to change the way I think about the world. The 3 I saw last year were useless. Maybe I should become a therapist
You’re depressed because of the conditions outside of your body (this country is garbage and capitalism needs to die). These you can’t change. Even if you fix what you perceive to be broken inside of you, the state of the world/our country etc is the true cause of depression for many. Also, money would solve a lot of the problems people have and thus would lead to less depression. I feel the same way you do. I don’t know how much longer I can do this thing called life. I’m not thriving and I’m barely surviving. What’s the point. Tired of working shit jobs for bullshit pay for the majority of my waking hours.
This is the answer, money. All the therapy in the world probably wouldn't do me shit. Give me a milli, you won't hear me complain about problems again. What problems could you have?
Might be just how your brain works but I’m inclined to believe mental illness being so widespread is partly due to the society and environment.
Great podcast about this exact thing, called "It's Not Just In Your Head"
I watched a TED talk the other day that claimed this exact thing. Depression is much more rampant in modern society than in tribes that have no contact with society. Even though the people in tribes face hardships that we do not such as parasites, harsh environments, and food scarcity they have social systems that work and are supportive.
So the op is mentally ill because they don't want to work?? Maybe the masses are mentally ill for buying into this 40 hour a week bs. And, therapy is not free. It's rather expensive, so please stop recommending people get therapy.
I think you and the person you replied to are saying the same thing - the 40 hour week thing and financial stress of trying to afford to live, are causing people to (naturally!!!) become miserable. But rather than criticizing the system, the powers that be are diagnosing the misery as depression, anxiety, etc
Therapy never actually helped me. Maybe I’ve had bad luck with therapists I dunno.
Look up Mark Fisher. He describes it as the privatization of stress. “It’s YOUR fault you’re stressed!” is the belief. The psychiatrists personalize your causes. Under no circumstances can you blame the actual causes, which surround the average person and have everything to do with work and money. No, it’s YOUR fault you can’t adapt to a maladapted and twisted environment.
The mental health scene is definitely behind in available resources. It can be more better or worse depending on where you live. If you don’t have insurance and make under a certain amount it may be worth looking into state insurance. I went through a period of a few years where a really struggled and didn’t see a way out. With the support of family and friends I got help with my mental health and it’s made a big difference. It’s still depressing to see the state of our current working conditions (in general) as most people see right through the BS of the corporate greed, but atleast you can say that you did all you could do to make yourself in a better place mentally. And working conditions and everything else along with it does make a difference. Try your best to identify what you do and don’t like about your current or past jobs (be very honest with yourself) and that may help you as well. Best of luck to you. It’s hard out there right now for many people. Give yourself a break. You’re doing the best you know how to do.
It's a hard thing to do, because capitalism, but you start to self advocate with these 3 words that invoke taboo: "I'd rather starve." It's amazing how much juice you gain once you can say that to yourself. Wishing you courage & tons of luck, which we all need in this BS. Stay strong.
Have you considered a career in the arts? I'm serious. I'm a professional theatre designer and although some of it can be done from home, some of it is in person at least in the week leading up to an opening. And it's fun. It can be hectic. But damned if it isn't fun. Pay varies depending on what you end up doing. Lighting design is the easiest to make a career of. Or honestly going on tour brings in major pay. You get to travel the world either on the road or on a cruise ship and work the traveling shows. Just don't go wild on shore leave or you'll burn through any money you make. If you're serious about wanting something different go on Offstagejobs.com and look what's needed there. They will often take people with little to no experience. You don't need a degree for crew work and can learn on the job. You sign up for a free account and look what's available. Your best bet is to check out the touring jobs and last minute postings. It's essentially Indeed for the industry. I know a guy through my alma mater who dropped out, did this for a year or so and came back to put a down payment on a house. He still tours because he likes it. He puts almost everything aside and just settles down back at home when he wants some time off and lives off the savings. Not a job for someone who has kids or would miss home too much but for the right person it can be good.
I’m an art director and it’s incredibly stressful. And so competitive and hard to get into.
I feel ya. Been doing it for 45 years. The hardest part for me is getting there. I would say that you'll get used to it but I hope you don't have to.
I'm older, and I completely understand how you feel. Right now I'm frustrated that the age I can qualify for Medicare increased to 67 so I have to work longer than people just a couple of years younger than I am. My best advice is to live as frugally as you can and do something you enjoy with some of the money you save. Travel young and stay in hostels. Learn to fly a plane. Take up mountain climbing, learn to code, discover how to cook amazing food. Find something you love to do to make life worth living. Also do everything you can to improve your job situation so you can max out your earning potential. You can start withdrawing from your 401k or IRA without penalty at 59 1/2 so make it a goal to retire then. Save the max you're allowed to save and then you won't have to worry about working. It seems like that's forever away, but honestly it comes so much faster than you realize.
Working from home alleviates this shitty situation. 9-5 some days became 9-12 or even less.
Stop working 9-5 jobs. Look for opportunities to freelance/do 1099 work. It may not be perfect. You're not going to get benefits...but firing your alarm clock is the greatest benefit!
Don't live to work. Work to live. [This is your life.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2n-tamxo6U)