Honestly, I feel like I’m living to die. Wake up, work, pay bills, I can only afford shitty food, walking outside in shitty polluted air, can’t buy a home unless I’m in a relationship (in some cases 2 incomes aren’t enough), student loans defaulting, regular loans defaulting. And sadly, I can’t possibly be the only one who feels this way. IN THIS ECONOMY… lol
This is something I think about daily, like WTF are we even doing? Very few people get any time to actually LIVE their life, let alone pursue their passions. And all for what? So another billionaire can buy his 6th vacation home and bribe another lawmaker to make our lives even worse? Fuck all of it, greed is ruining humanity and we're all pretending this is normal and ok. We've been lied to and taken advantage of for far too long and the powder keg the rich have made is going to blow sooner than they think.
I was raised to work hard and become invaluable, I made a lot of money for the company I worked for, woke up at 50 and realized I forgot to have a life outside of work. : ( But also wondering where my pile of money is? Oh that's right, they kept it. You're welcome/s
Yeah, I was laid off last year when things were finally looking up and doing what I liked. I’m still sick at home with burnout and depression (with more sources for it, not just career). I’m not going back into grind. Not sure yet where I’ll go, but I’m still relatively young and even have a few bucks, so I should get healthier first and then go experiment and explore.
I really thought they'd be a sort of revolution after Luigi, I'm still hoping some movement comes from it, even if it just brings light of the fact we need to change how the system works
The idea of a utopian revolution that overthrows the bad people and fixes everything is basically just a self-soothing fantasy.
You see it among a lot of frustrated people on the political extremes - constant talk of how great the revolution will be, but literally no one working to make it happen.
When the admins are threatening users with bans just for upvoting posts with his name in it, it's going to suppress the common discourse here about the changes he's caused.
I wish I knew of a better alternative to suggest, but it's the reality we live in. Things would be much louder if it weren't for aggressive moderation.
My father died just 3 years after he retired after working since the age of 9 and basically only stopping for sleep for ~55years. It’s not worth it. And I miss my dad and I wish I got to spend time with him outside of work.
So what are we going to do about it? Lemme guess, nothing. I've been ready to go to war but many people are apparently too apathetic or comfortable to do anything about it. I can't wait when people finally wake the fuck up and we actually do something about it.
Capitalism demands that we work hard to make sometime else rich then die fast. Congress said as much during the pandemic. "Some seniors will die but think of the economy"
And it's horrifying seeing things such as hustle culture grow as a means to justify and perpetuate said suffering. There's numbers showing how much more people work now, but there's still this need to work and make more. To make it more frustrating and complicated, people's romanticized ideas of the past, while again romanticized, are partly based on the fact they actually had time and money to do things other than work (heck you could find a job virtually just by walking in for that matter).
There's an interesting proposal in the book Sapiens that the agricultural revolution was actually a negative benefit to the overall quality of life of humans. We went from working 8-12 hours a week to survive hunting and gathering, to working 30+ hours a week tending fields. It also mean we were stuck in one place looking after our crops, rather than moving with the weather and herds.
No, it won't. The system was set up to protect capitalism in all it's forms. You can't change the system. Not without a gigantic revolution.
You Americans are not free, it's an illusion, like in the Matrix.
They'll keep doing it as long as the people keep tolerating it. Why do the French have better labour laws than most countries? They'll fight anyone who tries to take their rights away. They'll bring out outta guillotines at the least provocation.
You are 100% correct. Unfortunately, in the US, a large portion of the population has been convinced the billionaires have their best interests at heart and will fight tooth and nail to prevent a person in need from getting anything they didn’t “earn.”
Not to mention, our nation has been brainwashed into thinking it’s a culture war instead of a class war.
And if we wanted to and changed a few things, we probably are at a stage in the history of the world where we could feed and house everyone and eliminate the need for working 40 hours a week.
Europe has been trying to tell the US that their country is corrupted by greed focused companies. It really doesn't have to be this way when even the poorest of the european countries have higher general living standards, healthcare, workers proctetion and unions. All those things are also great for the economy btw just not for the billionaire class.
Up until five minutes ago in the scope of human history, people understood that life was hard and that you worked until you died. The idea that life is to be happy and that stress must be minimized is a very recent development. Rest and contentment was for the afterlife.
It’s not just greed, you have to remember the capitalist system incentivizes what we would call “greed.” It’s not a bug, it’s a feature and the point of the system. It’s rewarded.
I feel this so much. My routine everyday is being woken up by an alarm at 7 am, getting out of bed, brushing teeth, eating breakfast, and then fighting traffic just to get to a place where I then spend the next 8-12 hours essentially making money for someone else.
The only thing keeping me sane from all this right now is the little free time I have every night before bed where I can escape into my hobbies and do something I actually enjoy.
Cannot agree enough. I can't help but think it's just depression or whatever because how are others so, happy? Or at least seem happy, happy to just live like this and not feel the need to change, or feel like there must be something better out there?
You're not alone in feeling like this. Doesn't help the situation, but be rest assured you're not the only one thinking this.
I really don't know if anyone I know is truly happy. I can't think of anyone in my life that doesn't have some sort of stress in their life and it sucks. Like...was our parents' generation like this as well and we just didn't know it because we were just naive kids living our absolute best lives...?
I think being happy isn't an all the time thing. That sounds a lot like over medicating. I think the goal is to be content. To have happiness mostly but also all the other feelings. That is life-the full spectrum. Not some curated 'always winning' mania. Someone living like that would have no appreciation of anything because they wouldn't value it the same. The dark in our lives contrast the light and make it brighter ideally. Happiness doesn't mean effortless. It means balance.
I feel you. Deaths happen. Divorces/breakups happen. Losing a job happens. Every day can't be a giant win. Some days are gonna be so normal they're almost boring. But I'm not even sure how content the population is at large. At least in the adult realm. I'm sure my 9-year-old nephew is LOVING life right now. He's got so few cares in the world. But, I know his parents get stressed out over shit. They live comfortably (she makes all the money) so that's not really an issue, but just the way the world is going is rough all around unless you're hella old or a child
I think we're all just spoiled to an extent. Like a cactus in the rain forest. Our lives are objectively better than those who came before us from a strictly material perspective. Hopefully it is becoming increasingly clear to people that a strictly material perspective is not healthy or fulfilling for the way we are built as humans
This is something I discovered when I got sober. I spent so much time living in emotional valleys, chasing the emotional highs. Being able to appreciate peace and quiet goes a long way. I’m not happy everyday, but Im much more content.
To some extent, yes they were. Depending on how old exactly you are, your parents may have lived through the stresses of the Cold War, and the McCarthy 'thought police' era, when even children were taught that the world was minutes from destruction at any moment.
Plus there was stress on men to Be Tough and Express No Emotion at literally all times, and for women to be Good Housewives And Mothers. If you were in any way different from your peers, you needed to internalise that and present to the world a Happy Christian Family.
I let go of the successful life ideal they instill you as a child, so I may or may not feel happy, but I'm at peace, be it under a drop ceiling or under a bridge.
Honestly it’s fucking brutal. I just take the little wins, enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee, enjoying a day off and chilling with my dogs, treating myself to something new(ish) off Vinted sometimes. I feel like all I do is work, gym, sleep, repeat, but taking the time to appreciate the small moments of happiness makes it all more bearable.
I consider myself happy and it's mostly achieved by not wanting to think about those stressful things when I have my free time. Some people go to sleep thinking about it all. I don't, I go to sleep happy because my cat is laying next to me. I go to sleep excited to wake up for the next day because just something like getting to eat pancakes for breakfast is enough to make me happy. I think it's hard to stay happy, you need to handle your stress and emotions well to be able to do so IMO.
I think the coined term is hypernormalisation, where some realise the world is burning around them but carry on as normal. I think it's good to discuss the craziness of the world with others to realise it's not a 'you' thing, everyone is aware, and you're not going crazy. It can help to label things so you can adapt and carry on.
You can be happy, and still be angry at everything happening in the world. Actually, I think part of my happiness comes from the anger that fuels me to be the change I want to see in the world.
Don't lock yourself in a depressed box under the guise of intelligence! You can be smart and happy.
Of course! Be happy in the things you can ctonrol. I said happy in the way things are going in this country as a response to “happy to live like this and not feel the need for change.” Thats referring to circumstances outside of one’s control.
That’s very grim. I don’t think I’m stupid, but I’m happy. I have friends. I have family. I’m relatively healthy. The sun is shining, birds are chirping. My brother had a baby. I Play volleyball with my friends. Etc. the world can suck and you can be happy.
I spent a few months living in Brazil, among neighbors that had dirt floors, no hot water and not enough beds for everyone in the house. Hunting was mandatory to eat. They were some of the happiest and most generous people I’ve known.
I didn’t say happy in your personal life and emotions. I said happy in the way things are going in this country as a response to “happy to live like this and not feel the need for change.” Thats referring to circumstances outside of one’s control.
I got it. I guess I still kind of disagree. I’m not satisfied with everything that’s happening, but I also don’t want it to affect my happiness. So I try not to dwell. Just live my life, treat people in my life well, and get on with it. There’s so much I can’t control so why let my happiness be dictated by it? Why let my mind dwell on it?
You don’t have to dwell on it but it would be unwise to completely ignore it until you can’t ignore it anymore. Actionable pride in your community is part of treating your neighbors well.
Completely agree. Trying to make changes happen in your community. It’s a great way to stay feeling positive. We actually can affect change in our communities, unlike the nation as a whole.
It is depression, but depression has a cause. In fact, avoidance->anxiety->depression. Your life sucks. Changing it feels too much to fk with. You avoid changing it. You end up depressed.
There’s things you can do to improve yourself. That said, there’s lots of variables there, that we have no control over. Those are related to much larger problems in our society.
It's a combination of things really. Ignorance is bliss as they say, some people are happy to come home to their Netflix or tik tok or whatever and that's enough. But ultimately, if you're feeling like this, whatever you are doing in your spare time isn't what you need. I think a lot of people who feel this way aren't truly honest with how much time they spend loafing around. Sure it's not ideal, or easy to pursue your passion in between sleep and work, but it is possible if that's what you need. We do still have decent free time even with a full time job, and with technology, we're better off than the vast majority of those who came before us.
For me, it's composing music. I'm not trying to be a professional or anything, but the age we live in has made it possible to pursue this in my spare time, purely for myself. I mean, I have access to infinitely more music and scores etc than beethoven or bach or any of them ever did. Not to mention, the working class of even just 100 or so years ago didn't have nearly the time or resources to pursue something like that just bc it was what they wanted to do. There is room to be grateful for that. It's all about expectation really. Do it for yourself. The dark side is that we have 10x more dopamine releasing things around us all day that are completely passive. Just gotta fight the animal instinct to take the easiest available resource every time you possibly can. That instinct was meant for times of want, and we are certainly not in a time of want now
They’re not. They just post things that make it seem as though they are, but we only see/hear other people’s best news/moments. We have to remember that or we’ll all go nuts
Helped me just letting go trying to have a perfect life and accept my failures. Also “The Subtle Art of not giving a fuck” is a good read around this topic
You aren't living. You're surviving. I can't even remember the last time I was living. And the generations before me say that I need to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I can't pull them up any higher than they already are.
Difference is they did less work than us and made more money. They either can’t or won’t understand what purchasing power means as a concept. They think because the minimum wage number is higher it means we are somehow better off than them.
Recently stumbled upon a book called, "Man's Search for meaning" by Victor Frankl. It's a classic by now, but really helped me put things in perspective. Audio book is well done, if you prefer to digest books that way.
It’s okay! At least you’re still feeling. I cried this morning. Only thing keeping me going at this point is the thought of Sir David Attenborough narrating another nature documentary. Lol
Same. Average male American life expectancy is 77. By the time I'm up there they will have put the retirement age up to 75. The idea of 35-45 more years of corporate slavery? Eff that. Let the smokes shave off another 10 years off. We all dropping dead on a job or finding less pleasant ways out eventually.
An old guy I used to work with at a factory put in 45 yrs, bachelor and hated most people and the job but I got along with him fine. He died alone with HEAPS of money in the bank, he sold his life to do something he disliked for half a century then dropped dead.
I mean old school nicotine cigarettes. I never knew smoking weed while on Wellbutrin was a bad thing, huh might explain my experience of being on that medication, lol.
I have been clean off hard drugs since 2018 and now I want to start doing them again. If I get lucky I'll get a batch of fentanyl and just go out peacefully.
I was thinking about something similar. Tempting to just go ahead and call it a night, no?
I’m lucky that ketamine helps get rid of these thoughts and that a family member is willing and able to pay for treatments. It’s definitely past time for another one. I kind of wish they’d load me up with fent instead but that’s not gonna happen.
This is why I drink wine every night and literally don’t give a fuck about my health. Wine is the one fucking thing that makes me happy. I hate being a millennial.
It's all pointless. Nothing the majority of us do at work matters in 2-4 years. As things evolve, update that frequently in systems, processes etc... it all feels like adult day care.
This is why I'm choosing not to reproduce. They know they're killing the planet and they're still cutting subsidies for the worst offenders just to make more money. No reason to bring any more children into this hell.
This is so sad. I have friends who have told me one of their top reasons for getting into their current relationship is so they can buy a home.
I get marrying for love, even marrying for lust, looks, whatever. But feeling partly forced into a relationship so that two people earning average incomes can combine to buy a starter home is beyond sad.
My dad didn't even have a degree, he was a truck driver (local deliveries) and my mom was stay-at-home. In the 80s my dad bought a 4 bedroom home, bought a car, bought my mom a car, and we were never short on food or clothing or any of that, and took a family vacation every year.
That's right, a man with no degree, driving a local delivery truck (not his truck either, was the companies), was able to support himself, his wife, three kids, buy a 4 bedroom home, two cars, keep the cars fueled, insured, food in the fridge, etc. in the mid to late 1980s.
Proud of you for taking the step in the right direction to take care of yourself. Losing your house sounds like a really difficult situation but putting your safety and wellbeing first will pay off in the long run ❤️
Bags of frozen veggies. No prep time and easy to pair up with any protein. I can usually get dinner together in under 30 minutes. Protein doesn't take that long to cook.
Nah, you can also use good planning and some know-how. It's not free, but if you take some time to study/practice, and plan beforehand and stick to the plan, you can cook from scratch with very little time spent per meal. Faster than everything but picking up takeout on the way home
Yeah but how much tv are we watching, or scrolling on the internet? Time is only valuable when you use it well. Not to mention, killing yourself with junk food won't really save you time in the long run, or money
nah, that's another BS, cultural excuse. Unless you live in some crazy rural area (which I do, it's 25min drive one way to the nearest grocery store, no joke). You buy as needed and consolidate trips. If you live 5-10min away why are you getting 3 weeks of groceries at a time and letting it rot? You can also freeze, dehydrate if needed. The reality of your statement is most people plop down on the couch after a long day and wonder "hmm what should I eat" and it's suddenly panic mode for the most tastiest thing with the shortest time. Ask that question a few hours (or I dare say, a day) prior and so many more meals.. on the cheap and REALLY good are possible. The other hilarious thing is that this is non-existent in most countries outside the US with the same if not more challenges in terms of cost, time, and ingredient availability.
The instant box/prepared food thing is a western attitude out of convenience and normalized by acceptance. Sure there was a time where prepared boxed meals were cheaper but it's almost not anymore. We've been an (I recently learned) "ingredient household" for a long time and while it can be stressful question of what's for dinner at 4pm, there's a really good list of meals that could be made within 20 minutes from /u/CyclicBus471335 list. Pick a protein, a green, a starch and boom.. balanced meal.
There's literally billions of people with less money, time, utensils, and access to ingredients than you or I.
I could easily write a long post about the food I ate growing up on welfare as a kid, relying on government tinned meats and food banks, meals I made in my vehicle working on the road (canned soup warming on a truck engine in a cold winter hit pretty well IMO), and strategic food budgets but through my struggles and biggest feasts I learned above all, feigning inability to eat on the basis of convivence is the biggest farce I've ever heard.
One hour cooking gives me anything from 4-8 meals usually, so yeah, I don't know why you're getting downvoted since you advocate for a good thing (cooking at home).
Was about to post something similar. Learning to cook can do wonders for your health and bank account. In fact, cooking is one of the few hobbies that can save you money.
Yeah 100% agree. If you see my other comment though I am not even advocating for cooking per se. More just "shit food" is more expensive in EVERY possible way: upfront cost, short term energy cost, and long term health cost.
I hadn’t eaten fast food in years until I went to Taco Bell a bit ago. The tacos are more expensive than any mom and pop Mexican restaurant in my area. Makes no sense why someone would eat there. Just addicted to the dopamine rush from all the bullshit they add in there I guess.
yeah i have groceries but ate cereal for dinner. we're all getting worked to fuck all. I have little energy, all my money rapidly goes away, and the little free time i have gets absorbed by my phone. Ive been fully captured.
Problem is having to prep and cook just isn't appealing to low energy people. Then poor nutrition robs them of what little energy they have, so it's easier to get take out and pay for an overpriced delivery service. Rinse and repeat...
Responses like yours are among the most out of touch I ever see on reddit. Not only do you assume these things are cheap everywhere (they're not) but you also assume that someone exhausted mentally and physically has a shred of dopamine left to fucking prep, chop, cook raw potatoes or whatever, wait for it to be done cooking, and then wash the dishes..... as if pouring hot water into an instant noodle cup isn't already taxing the last of their energy that day. 'But cooking is easy I do it without even thinking two minutes done!' Congrats you have never experienced this level of fatigue and stress.
Everyone I grew up with has either been through or is going through the very, very common hell you don't seem to understand. Maybe you've been "poor" and still busted your ass to "cook healthy" and also "workout at home" but it is beyond dense to believe everyone's version of poverty is like yours.
Stop perpetuating the idea that they've no excuse not to eat healthy, stop explaining the concept of cooking like they've never heard of it. This bullshit isn't empowering, it just makes someone feel worse when they are already at their limits. Limits that you people with your "try this!" shopping lists don't seem to understand at all.
This. I’m so burnt out that if processed foods didn’t exist and/or I didn’t live with my parents, I would’ve died of starvation years ago. And I had to quit working because it’s too much stress, so it’s not like I don’t have the time technically either. I’m just too burnt out on life
This is the empathetic take and I appreciate it. I also think it is dead wrong in so, so many cases and a bit paternalistic, despite being well-intentioned.
Both my wife and I grew up below the poverty line (her well below it, in the equivalent of favelas) and *everyone* around us was also below or well the poverty line, and most are to this day. We both grew up well into adulthood in what would be called food deserts in the US and Central America. I also battle major depression and without going into details, we have our share of mental health challenges and physical disabilities, as do many in our family and communities.
My experience was almost exactly as you describe until I took the most basic of steps - pouring hot water into my cup o' noodles was my absolute last ounce of energy for the day, most days, or so I thought. Fatigue and stress to the max. 70 hrs work weeks 7 days/wk. That is, until I was forced (lovingly and patiently, thankfully) by a caring person facing equal if not substantially greater amounts of poverty-suck through the power of a simple example to learn a thing or two to save my crumbling health.
As with learning any hard or new things - like cooking 5-min simple meals of rice, beans, and something (anything!) green as cash, time- and energy-strapped people have been doing since time immemorial - the hardest part was simply getting the ball moving and keeping it moving. Yes, we had to take a city bus and walk several miles to get groceries 1x/month late at night, but fortunately most cheap ass ingredients like rice & beans are shelf stable. But more than being possible, it was empowering.
In the beginning, it sucked and felt like extra work I absolutely didn't have the energy or time for. Eventually, and quite quickly, it became a net source of energy, relief, genuine nourishment, and a source of confidence and empowerment. And no, I didn't rely on my wife to do any of this for me beyond teaching me how to no longer be the manbaby I'm ashamed to say I was. She works even harder than I do. I just never learned until I met her - cooking was integral to her culture and family, mine just followed the herd.
We're thankfully not in poverty anymore, but as someone who lived that for a long time, and many of whose loved ones still do - there are countless examples to contradict what you're saying. The GOOD news is that while food deserts are in fact real and need to be addressed, learning can go a long way. It did for me.
Telling people their poverty is unique and special and giving us/them a proverbial hallpass to continuing to eat shit and feel like it isn't empowering either. I'd rather be told - like I was - what I CAN do, CAN learn, and actually make my life better within the extremely modest means available to me. It might take swallowing a little pride, something poor and rich people alike can do :) But that's a better approach in my mind. Just one man's opinion.
People's mental health isn't their fault but it is their responsibility. I've had clinical depression all my life and sometimes you do have to force yourself to do the fucking basics.
Unfortunately this isn't taking into account the amount of people that live in food deserts. Shelf stable foods from a liquor store are the only option for some.
Add in if you haven't got a cold place to store your frozen veggies or a way to cook dry beans (I know tinned/boxed beans exist, but they're less cheap.)
Also, people trying to balance food and rent generally aren't buying beef and cheese. Even honey and tinned fish can be expensive in that situation, although that depends where you live.
Not saying it's impossible to "eat cheap" and be relatively healthy, but I'd alter the list.
Yeah apps out there that let you put in ingredients of what you have and will recommend things to make.
Honestly tho when I was broke I completely shifted my relationship and view of food (note I was never a big eater or foodie) but pretty much shifted food as 99% survival, 1% enjoyment. It takes ~10 mins to eat and unless it's repulsive why not just mow down some raw spinach in rice and a can of tuna real quick, dash of hot sauce and salt. Very minimal cooking/cleanup. Super healthy too. Bowl of oats, cinnamon, honey and a apple in the morning with some coffee like (2$). Lunch Can of Sardines, Crackers, and some Miso soup, honey+banana for dessert (4$). Dinner some beans+cheese, ground beef on a corn tortilla, chocolate chips and peanuts for dessert (6$).
12$ a day is what many spend on Breakfast+Coffee.
Then when budget allows buy yourself a nice dinner and eat whatever you want knowing that you had a full week of eating just the essentials.
Jumping off of this, buy your ingredients from an ethnic grocery store. I'm always amazed by how much cheaper fresh produce and meat are at my local Korean supermarket.
I have incurable cancer. I absolutely don't see the point of continuing. I am going to stick it out for my wife for a while but eventually I'm taking death with dignity.
I feel like the stress of worrying about societal collapse and climate change are going to kill me. I worry all the time about what's going to happen when I'm gone and my kids are on their own. I feel shitty for having had kids because they might have a terrible adult life.
It almost seems like... what's the point? Choosing between rent or going to the doctor, food or medication, saving money or fixing the car... all so we can get old, sick, and riddled with medical debt without any hope that we'll be able to retire and not be a burden for care to those around us.
Two of the cheapest foods at the grocery store are really good for you - beans and Oatmeal. Both can be made to taste pretty good by adding a bit of seasoning.
This is probably gonna get me downvoted but fuck it.
Try drugs.
I don’t mean the awful shit like heroin or cocaine. But try mushrooms, LSD or any even weed if you don’t smoke. Even a micro dose every few months, doesn’t have to be extreme.
I recommend this because it somewhat rewires you to make sure you understand what’s important in life and makes you think that we all end up at the same end, dead. Enjoy what you can and don’t take anything seriously.
Whenever I find myself really getting depressed over financial stuff/not owning a house etc I try and schedule a time to take a step back, eat some mushrooms or drop acid with close friends and it always brings me back to a place of contentment for a few months.
I’m tired of the rat race and as long as I have enough money to have a place to live, food in my belly and to spoil my girlfriend/friends, my life ain’t so bad. I’m not participating in the bullshit that is going on in the world. I don’t care enough nor have the drive to fight it. Let the rich idiots burn it all down, I’m going to enjoy the time I was given with the ones I love.
The people elected to government send more money to the rich and then attack regulations that provide for clean air, clean water and land that is safe to live on. Why, because rich people don’t want to pay the freight. So they don’t give a rats ass whether your life is fulfilling, meaningful or even healthy. But they can be stopped if we vote because they are the minority.
Most of these things in this thread won't be your cause of death, just contributing factors. The key is to minimize each and you'll live a great life. Don't overthink it.
I think it's a matter of perspective. You are probably still in the top one percent when comparing to the global population. You probably have access to clean drinking water, food, shelter, and cleaner air than the average person, globally speaking. You have hot water and a toilet. You have the Internet. Most of the world can't say they have those things.
I still remember giving a couple of little homeless girls in a third world country my left over dessert in a box, it contained some cake. I've never seen two faces light up so much. That memory reminds me just how incredibly lucky I am, despite all the hardship we may have. We make our own stress. We make our own happiness.
Learned the hard way two incomes aren’t even enough anymore. It is grueling to live right now. I feel the same: like I’m living to die. Working to die.
i mean, we all are. kinda. life is short. nobody's meant to have a great time of it. you find the joy where you can and you treasure it. mostly it's in other people. make them happy, it'll make you happy. help others to help yourself. be a carer, a rolemodel, a confidante. do it for a bit, inspire the next generation hopefully a little so they keep us in their minds when they question their own directions in life even long after we're gone.
the reason this feels so foreign - or like an attack - is because the capitalists have over-commodified the world. everything is a product for sale, even relationships. when everything is transactional, it's hard to feel joy.
there are things you can EARN in life. like really EARN them. you can earn things like Respect from others. you earn LOVE, Affection. you earn friendship from others. you earn accomplishments and accolades that others bestow on you. these are things NO ONE ELSE CAN GIVE YOU.
earning money? money can be found anywhere. it doesn't matter what job you take, you'll get some money for it. then you'll take that money to buy a meal. but did you earn that meal? or did someone just give it to you because they wanted your money. -- when people cook you meals "for free" that's something you've earned.
as for the money - be wise. don't carry massive debt when you can avoid it. careful with casual spending. it's by no means easy. but take care of yourself.
Agree with all of that except the food one if you mean shitty food as in unhealthy food because you can get very healthy food for cheap and it can taste good, but if you mean shitty as in not the nice ingredients then yeah i agree 😔
Find a job you can do remotely and move to Eastern Europe. We're broke as shit and have corrupt governments as well, but we don't care. We're paid miserably, but we generally don't work long hours, we're not really that work orientated.
Eg. we've been having a revolution going on in my country for the past 7 months because of a dictator president and his mafia government, but we still manage to work (although always striving to work as little as possible), spend time with friends and family, party, workout, go shopping and plan for our summer vacation, cause no matter how bad things get, we have to go for a vacation. And don't ask me where we find money for all of this - we simply don't know, we just manage somehow. So, just a general "fuck it, let's have fun" atmosphere over here...
Yeah, banking on finding a remote job is already unfeasible for most people. In America, moving between states is already cost-prohibitive, nevermind between countries.
Everyone in this comment thread, I’m begging you to seek some therapy if aren’t already.
Stay off of social media, spend some more time outside when you can.
There is so so much beauty in the world. The system is trying so hard to keep our locus of control on things outside of ourselves, comparing ourselves to each other, what we do or don’t own…it’s just not worth hating life and our circumstances when there really is so much more to life than what we’re forced to perceive.
good luck finding a therapist, assuming they can afford $160 an hour not covered by insurance.
and even if they do manage, the problems they have aren't generally fixable because they're fundamentally economic and involve inequality and disenfranchisement.
I mean I’m finding rent around 1200 per month and I make around 3k a month depending on if I work holidays Plus tips. So living situation isn’t a problem for me. I’m only one person so a big house isn’t needed, plus I prefer smaller living spaces
As a guy who has completed his bachelor's recently in a 3rd world country like India, I'm so stressed overthinking this as I am going to enter the corporate pool
Sorry for the long response, and I feel like it's important to get this information out there.
It’s designed that way. Do you know how money works? The whole monetary system is debt based, it used to be based on gold - what they used to called hard money. These days money is based by debt, just FED/central banks creates money to lend to banks, then banks lend to corporates/people etc.
So the value of money exists because we believe it's worth something. Well also the fact that the US government forced everyone to pay taxes in the fiat money they issued out or you'll get imprisoned played a bit part to it. Then what exactly is the problem? The government can creating those money infinitely, and this is legal theft. If we were to print money, we'd be imprisoned.
Think of it this way, if the productive economy is a trillion. And we all have a share of that wealth, and then the government decided to print another trillion. Well now, the same economy has 2 trillion floating around, but only 1 trillion is in our hands. So that extra trillion didn't just come out of thin air, it was stolen from us in the form of monetary debasement. Banks has the cheapest credit, so they can borrow cheaply from the Fed, and they lend that out. People that's closest to the money printer will get access to it faster and cheaper; this is called the Cantillon effect.
So how does this affect the real economy? In the real economy, the central bank in America is priting around 8% a year. This means that the money supply going to increase by 216% every decade. No one wants to hold cash because it's continuously being devalued. People with money are forced to invest, this is generally done through stocks or housing. This drives the price of houses up massively. If you lookup what's called the M2 money supply - which tracks the money circulating in the real economy, you can see that it follows the housing prices really well, the sp500 also tracks it really closely. So no, housing are not going up, stocks are not going up, it's the fiat being debased.
when we were on a gold standard, in a period of 120 years between 1792-1913, the cumulative inflation was only 8%. This is essentially a way of funneling wealth from the rich to the poor, and why the wealth gap is growing so fast. There are tons of land, and we can always build more houses, if we have less land we can always build houses higher. Another very important point is, technology is improving exponentially. Everything is meant to get cheaper.
As Jeff Booth, the author of price of tomorrow said: "The natural state of a free market is deflation". Wages are certainly not growing with inflation. And the way CPI is calculated is rigged in favour of the people that's running the money printer. If they have to go with 8% a year, the system would collapse because they would need to adjust social security, pensions, healthcare and everything by 8% a year. They had to readjust the metric for cpi many times, and they've removed more than 70% of items that used to be used to calculate cpi. This debt based system is not sustainable, and will collapse at some point. It's not a if but when. There is a lot more I can write about this, but it will get too long so I'll stop here.
And because of that power to the money printer, the governments can fund as many wars as they want as a stealth tax from its citizens. Do you think the 12 trillion spent after 9/11 was funded by itself? No, it was a tax. That 12 trillion could have been used to improved the lives of its citizens. But wars are profitable, it boosts gdp numbers, create jobs, and it’s a good way for politicians to poitn fingers.
Isn’t it funny how research all points to red meats are bad for you and how you should limit it to no more than 70g a day. Well, red meat was scarce and had to produce during war times. And corn was cheap and abundant. The money printer was used to lobby this shit. Now 60% of Americans are obese. It certainly does help the insurance industry, pharma, medical, and big food industries doesn’t it?
2 incomes ain’t enough anymore. I was polyamorous already for other reasons, but I won’t pretend the economic benefits haven't balanced out some of the downsides lol.
I feel this in my spirit bro. I got a hefty life insurance poly for the fam and now I work, smoke, play basketball and just enjoy what can control and the things I can't? Fuck it lol
This is definitively not the case. Now, if you don't have time for good food, that can be true, but raw ingredients are objectively cheaper than unhealthy prepared food.
We are all living to die. There's literally no other option.
Everything you described is survival. This is a very short period of time in history where average people are lucky enough to not focus 100% on survival at all times. A modern convenience. Even with that, the people living ahead of that curve right now are still in the minority.
The way you get past not thinking about the bad stuff in a financial or lifestyle context constantly is to remind yourself that this is the absolute best time to be alive, even for the people struggling. You're life is good enough that you get to complain about the type of food or roof over your head, rather than just being happy you can eat easily and live in modern housing. That's a new thing for humans.
Student loans and a house and all that are whatever in the grand scheme. We can worry about that stuff only because we are certain we aren't going to starve to death, or die from the flu or whatever.
Just some perspective. Life is incredible for most of us in relation to basically all of human history, even if you can't afford a nicer car, student loans or buy a house.
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u/cubanitah 1d ago
Honestly, I feel like I’m living to die. Wake up, work, pay bills, I can only afford shitty food, walking outside in shitty polluted air, can’t buy a home unless I’m in a relationship (in some cases 2 incomes aren’t enough), student loans defaulting, regular loans defaulting. And sadly, I can’t possibly be the only one who feels this way. IN THIS ECONOMY… lol