I remain furious that being a person in 2024 requires like 16-18 hours of executive function a day.
It feels like all tasks (even the ones I somewhat want to do!), are multi-step, app-ridden nightmares.
I am not meant to live this way with so many expectations and processes. I don't think any one is.
Agreed.
Capitalism has made it culturally acceptable to expect people to perform like robots. Productivity is now how we base our value as humans. It is a very unaccommodating and unforgiving system. You may be born with some sort of handicap but still expected to produce and keep up with your peers.
While there is an underlying murmur of change happening (more businesses unionizing, people lashing out against celebrities for completely tone-deaf flaunting of their wealth, etc), it will be slow to progress because corporations still have all the power and they depend on us believing our value is tied to our productivity.
The revolution needs to happen on a person-to-person basis before it will successfully infiltrate the greater culture as a whole. Shed those burdens and expectations. Stop trying to perform if it is burning you out. Reframe your worldview by redefining what success looks like to you. And then adjust your life to fit accordingly.
Busting my ass for 150k-200k a year was completely unsustainable and I was miserable. I was taught that that was what I SHOULD want. I now make 80k and have a much better grasp of work-life balance and live within my means.
I have found peace and contentment. I am no longer pursuing things outside of my grasp because I was taught that I should always try to achieve more and more. As a result, I am buying less crap that I don't need to feel fulfilled. I am not busting my ass to do the work of 3 people. I am not feeding into this relentless machine that capitalism has turned our society into. And I am ok with that. I don't have the nicest clothes, or the newest car, or the biggest house, or whatever other status symbols. I am content with what I have, and I don't let myself be bothered by judgments (whether real or imagined) from others.
Revolutionize yourself and inspire others to follow suit
I needed to read this today š„¹ I've been seriously debating leaving my current job for a few weeks now. It's well paid (not 200k, but still have disposable income at the end of the month which usually goes straight into savings and debt repayments), but it's making me so miserable and constantly burned out. No sense of purpose, just long hours and high cortisol to essentially help companies make more money... I feel an enormous level of guilt too because I should be more grateful for being able to afford living right now, it just doesn't necessarily feel like living per se at the moment (though I'm definitely grateful for the afford part).
My depression and anxiety have skyrocketed in the past 12 months and somehow, I used to think it's my "fault" for not being productive/intelligent/hardworking enough to adjust to it all. Strangely enough, sorry if cringey, I saw a TT a short while ago about how we're not really meant to exist this way (not just work-wise, more like society as a whole is not really working out that well for a lot of us anymore), and instead of questioning the state of everything, we're made to feel like something is wrong with us for not being able to adjust to this madness.
ETA I'm aware of the general purpose of businesses being there to make money etc. In my case, we're talking about particularly large businesses that make billions of profit each year.
Give yourself permission to leave ā¤ļø find something that makes you happier. And you will buy yourself time to search and find something good if you don't quit before you start a new job. If you quit before you have something lined up, you may feel pressured to accept something you don't feel too sure about.
But that TT is on the money. We are not meant to live like this.