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Hence the importance of finding a job you really like.
Unfortunately, with the types of jobs available today, that isn't that easy. Many people are tied to locations where there isn't much choice. People used to have jobs they could take pride in and in the workmanship that they brought to the occupation.
No one is working "all the time" even though it seems like it. I think one of the problems with the younger individuals is they were given too much free time and not involved with chores and responsiblities. Life has those and when just realizing that as an adult, I am sure that is a let down.
I support a mobile lifestyle or at least moving around the country as much as you can just because I did it and compared to those in their cozy forever corner, ah, seems to me to be worth whatever it took to get it.
Why do we act like life is wonderful when all we really do is work all the time? I'm getting ready to graduate college and Ive been struggling to think of a reason I shouldn't just kill myself. There's nothing to look forward to in life. We spend all of our time at work so we can afford to feed and shelter ourselves so that we're healthy enough to go back to work the next day. Then we get excited because we get a week off once a year.
Meanwhile, our children are being raised by someone else who is getting to see all their milestones. We spend most of our time with coworkers instead of our friends and spouses. Things that are supposed to make life worthwhile like traveling can barely be done because to most people who are making enough money to afford it don't have enough time off. Life is pretty much work, stress, and disappointment but we keep trying to find ways to prolong it. I don't get it
Let's say you are awake 16 hours per day and 7 days a week. 16 * 7 = 112.
work 40 hours. (40/112) = 0.357
In other words you are working just 36% of the time you're awake.
Better yet, move to Europe, with 35 hour work week. This cuts it down to 31%. You'd literally be working less than 1/3 of the time you are awake - ever considered that?
Let's say you are awake 16 hours per day and 7 days a week. 16 * 7 = 112.
work 40 hours. (40/112) = 0.357
In other words you are working just 36% of the time you're awake.
Better yet, move to Europe, with 35 hour work week. This cuts it down to 31%. You'd literally be working less than 1/3 of the time you are awake - ever considered that?
When you start talking numbers you get my attention.
Let me correct your math.
And by the way....'move to Europe' might not work for a lot of people!
40 hour workweek. (And quite a few folks work more than this!)
Don't forget to include the hour for lunch that is not really your time. Don't forget the 1/2 hour commute (one way) it takes you to drop the kids off at daycare and get to work.
That makes the 'real' workweek 55 hours. That's already about half of your time.
So you get home after work. Now it's time to cook dinner, eat, do dishes, help the kids out with homework, and other household items. Yardwork. Even if it's not every night, it's still quite a bit of time. Count on an average of 1.5 hours of time each day for these daily living items.
So the average person might really have the following:
* Free time between 7:00pm and 10:00 each night
* Free time on the weekends
That's it!
But keep working hard America so that the wealthy can live lives of comfort.
And by the way I am not a socialist democrat. Not even close.
Only 9-5? If you're working that few hours, it's worth it for you to keep that job until you retire.
That's too many hours. Even if it were just 9-5, but as many have pointed out, it's likely significantly longer when you add commute times, and the time spent getting ready for work. Unless one is lucky and lives right above or within walking distance of the work place.
I remember when I had 25 mile drive one way to work. Good-paying job, but it was such a time drain.
"For as soon as the distribution of labour comes into being, each man has a particular, exclusive sphere of activity, which is forced upon him and from which he cannot escape. He is a hunter, a fisherman, a herdsman, or a critical critic, and must remain so if he does not want to lose his means of livelihood; while in communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic. This fixation of social activity, this consolidation of what we ourselves produce into an objective power above us, growing out of our control, thwarting our expectations, bringing to naught our calculations, is one of the chief factors in historical development up till now." --Karl Marx "The German Ideology"
Choices. We all have choices.
As I see it, even YOU have choices.
1. End it all now, and save everybody within your sphere of influence a lot of future grief.
2. Marry rich, so you can live the life of luxury and leisure you desire.
3. Go to the Amazon jungle, get adopted by a tribe in there, and live a subsistence life, hunting and gathering.
4. Suck it up, get a job, and join the rat race. Neither your town, county, state, country, hemisphere, Earth, or the Universe owes you anything. In fact, none of them even care about you. Or me. Or anybody.
It has been said that if you want to see how much you will truly be missed, stick your fist in a bucket of heavy oil. Pull it out rapidly. The hole that is left is the definitive measure of your importance in the Universe!
I am 73 years old, and retired. I spent my entire life working 40 hours per week or more. I had weekends off to take my kids fishing, camping, and hunting. In most jobs I had 2 or more weeks vacation. I visited Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Arches National park. the Civil War battlefields around Chattanooga, Tenn., and many other National and State parks. I spent a little over 6 years active duty military, and about 24 years in the reserves. I could not afford to go to college. We raised 5 kids. The youngest are now over 30.
If you are looking for sympathy, you won't get it from me. In fact, in spite of the current thinking that we should do everything in our power to encourage people like you, I think Choice #1 is quite possibly your best bet if you truly don't want to work and contribute to society.
BUT, have some consideration for others. Do not leave a mess for somebody to clean up! Go as far back in the woods as you can walk, then sit down under a tree and do what you have to do. Leave a note with somebody in town so that the authorities won't waste a lot of time looking for your remains.
do it right the first time!
Good luck.
I would much rather have the OP around me than someone truly meanspirited like you.
Yes. Life of working all the time does make life meaningless (and lol @ those thinking it's just 40 hours....the real expectation is closer to 50-60 hours, plus 2 hour commutes for some of us, plus errands and plus getting ready for work/bed, etc).
But we didn't get to choose to be here. We're here, and that's that.
And there's no telling that where we go next will be any better, and may possibly be worse. At least in this life we know to an extent what it entails. And we'll die anyway. We'll go to the next step anyway. If it's good, we'll get there anyway naturally. If it's bad, well, then why the rush to get there?
You don't know. So the safe bet is to stay put.
Meanwhile it's your job to make the best of what you've got. Incorporate at least a little joy into everything you do. Whether that's listening to wonderful music as you work, befriending a coworker, rejuvenating peppermint tea, reading great books during your commute, doing exciting and novel adventurous things during the weekends and on holiday, using delicious smelling cleaning sprays when you're tidying up, there are always ways to make being an adult more pleasant.
Why do we act like life is wonderful when all we really do is work all the time? I'm getting ready to graduate college and Ive been struggling to think of a reason I shouldn't just kill myself. There's nothing to look forward to in life. We spend all of our time at work so we can afford to feed and shelter ourselves so that we're healthy enough to go back to work the next day. Then we get excited because we get a week off once a year.
Meanwhile, our children are being raised by someone else who is getting to see all their milestones. We spend most of our time with coworkers instead of our friends and spouses. Things that are supposed to make life worthwhile like traveling can barely be done because to most people who are making enough money to afford it don't have enough time off. Life is pretty much work, stress, and disappointment but we keep trying to find ways to prolong it. I don't get it
Most people spend their lives making sure the rich are living theirs. That's just the plain truth of how the world actually works. The rich live off everyone else. If they didn't have anyone to manufacture or buy their wares, they would not be rich. They rely on the working poor to give them their lives of enjoyment and comfort all the while saying they "deserve" it.
Why do we act like life is wonderful when all we really do is work all the time? I'm getting ready to graduate college and Ive been struggling to think of a reason I shouldn't just kill myself. There's nothing to look forward to in life. We spend all of our time at work so we can afford to feed and shelter ourselves so that we're healthy enough to go back to work the next day. Then we get excited because we get a week off once a year.
Meanwhile, our children are being raised by someone else who is getting to see all their milestones. We spend most of our time with coworkers instead of our friends and spouses. Things that are supposed to make life worthwhile like traveling can barely be done because to most people who are making enough money to afford it don't have enough time off. Life is pretty much work, stress, and disappointment but we keep trying to find ways to prolong it. I don't get it
Our descendants in the Star Trek timeline have eliminated money, and now only work to better themselves.
Whereas you could become an Eloi and be fed grapes, but every now and then, a Morlock will eat somebody. It could be you! Don't count on your fellow Eloi to help you out there.
One wrong turn and the state of humanity certainly turns to S@#$!
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Let's say you are awake 16 hours per day and 7 days a week. 16 * 7 = 112.
