4d ago

2meirl4irl

79 comments

Reminder for everyone that feels like this; you can at least try to change things for yourself. You can try to get a different job, you can try finding a new place to live, you can try a new hobby, try something at least (maybe not drugs though, that's a start for a rough life). Maybe you don't succeed now, but by not trying you will definitely be stuck where you are.
Make some plans, dream about stuff, don't just lie down and let the orphan crushing machine grind you to pieces. Unless you want to, that is
- This kind of advice is incredibly infantilizing. Do you think people aren't trying? Have you considered that people don't have the opportunity to make those changes due to the material circumstances they are being forced into due to systemic forces beyond their immediate control?
  Blaming the individual for being crushed under the weight of systemic violence is such a reductive position to argue from.
  
  The reality is that even if you are stuck and there's nothing you can do, the only thing keeping you alive might just be the belief that things can still change. To survive in this shitty world one sometimes needs to hear they can infact at least try to affect the world around them, or what else? That there's no hope and it's better to just suffer? I'm not saying anyone is at fault for not having the strenght to fight it, or responsible for their troubles because they can't solve them - maybe they can't, like I personally can't. Giving up just changes nothing at all
- Depending on your boss, telling your boss could be a good idea. That advice is only good if you trust and like your boss. Otherwise it's the quickest way to the unemployment line.
  
  I'm still haunted by the coincidence that I was fired days after finally admitting to my mentor that I was feeling burned out for months.
  I say "coincidence" because other stuff was happening at the same time and my mentor wasn't in the same office as me or my supervisor. But I remember, at the end of one week, he told me to reach out to my supervisor and talk to them about maybe getting some extra time off to reset, and, the start of the next week, I got called into the office and let go.
  
  One nice thing about my job is my boss gets it. He can't do anything about it and is in basically the same boat but he understands how I'm overloaded and going to miss deadlines because I don't have enough bandwidth to do everything that we're asked for. As long as I keep him updated on the status of things and prioritize them properly we're good.

My ex asked me why I never take a vacation and I had to explain to her that the more vacations I take the more likely I am to quit my job and just run into the woods and never come back.

That's because capitalism is bullshit thats been shoved down our throats our entire lives. And we bought it for a long time. We are only just beginning to realize how fucked capitalism has made our systems.
- To be fair, some figured this out ages ago. But it's been more and more obvious lately, so more and more people are catching on.
  
  and they are willing to change what?
- Especially the consumerism part of it and the want for more every year. More salary, more profit etc is just an unrealistic growth issue.. Especailly the Anglo-Saxon mindset is doomed to fail for companies since they mostly do profit maximisation. The Rheinland model companies generally care more about the people working there and know they need them. Sadly, there are some people who are actively against supporting companies who have trouble surviving in the current climate. Often because they give more about the customers/clients and their personal.

because when you're at work you're just a cog in the machine. it's because capitalism is shit also humans didn't evolve to wake up so early to go to work either

Am I the only one who likes his job? I was working for 10+ years in media creation without a proper education in that field. With 37 I changed everything and did an 3 year apprenticeship. 3 days working and 2 days school (with others around half my age). And now I work as a Web developer in the same small company (9 people) and couldn't be happier. We do only WebDev and no design or marketing. Ok, maybe a tiny amount of design and marketing. Many of our clients like that we are more technical than the regular webdesign agency. I have at least 30 days vacation, nice office in the middle of the city and a rather medium pay but if there is no emergency or time critical project, I can go to my boss and say: "I'm bored. I take the afternoon off." I won't get rich working there, but the fact that I look forward for my work and know work drama only by stories of others, is worth it for me. And that it's just 10min by foot from apartment to office is nice too. I'm so grateful that I am so lucky to find the right job and company.
- I've been both. I hated every job I was forced to get in my 20s and 30s, but now that I'm a little more experienced I've finally got one of those rare interesting jobs.
  I can't help but imagine how much more productive our economy would be if everyone had this luxury of the job they actually want. I was spending a ton of time/effort on looking busy because I hated working. Now the day just flies by and I have to manage my time carefully.
  When you take a step back and just look at the whole thing, it's staggering how much time and effort we just fucking waste. We can start building a paradise for humans tomorrow, even while dealing with climate change. We're not just on the brink of collapse - we're on the brink of utopia. Humanity is ready for a change.
- Yes. I'm equally happy with my life work balance but I also understand this is the exception and not the rule so am always willing to lend an ear to anyone that wants to complain about their situation.
  Same with any struggles one might have, socioeconomic conditions are not something any fellow worker controls.
  I do draw the line at self inflected drama from anyone stuck in denial. Those people need to finish their spiral first.
  
  I hope I didn't came off as if I had no empathy. Of course I had shitty jobs in the past and can relate to the soul draining effects. Only because I am in a good place now, doesn't mean that I forget how fucked up work (or life in general) can be. And I hope I didn't came of as self centered ass with main character syndrome. I'm more the opposite of that. It's quite rare that I voice my opinion or just write/post something online. I even feel bad about this and the last comment. Sorry if I came over to harsh or self centered.
- I love my job. Its challenging, and at time stressful, but I love it.
  I believe in the company I work for and the products we make.
  It's a large company, and yet all the employees are just wonderful people, my team and department in particular.
  It took me a lot of hard work and many years to reach this point, but it was worth it.
  Don't have any degrees, but I have "or equivalent experience" across multiple disciplines which add up to a pretty unique position I basically designed for myself.

I think it's natural to want to want to work and be active. It is a behavior that has been reinforced by evolution since we were hunter/gatherers. But, there are certain tasks that have definitely frustrated me.
- It's natural in a survival or creative context where we use our own agency to decide what to work on.
  It's unnatural when we have no agency on the daily and our reward has been abstracted to numbers in a bank account.
  
  Context is irrelevant in my opinion, in the same way that hunger and survival are irrelevant to a dog expressing its prey drive on a plush toy. I also believe we have more agency now than ever; we live in a time when food is abundant, and taking a day or two off might leave you with a smaller paycheck rather than at risk of starving to death. When a job needed to be done thousands of years ago, it was often imperative to the survival of yourself or your community, and not necessarily a matter of choice. Those communities likely also had harsh means of enforcing labor contribution of the able-bodied, consequences exceeding the typical outcome of homelessness that we're familiar with today, which contributed to this evolution. Those who found work itself to be rewarding were much more likely to survive and reproduce, as opposed to those who only found reward in the outcome of work (food, now money).

The good news is that, with the rise of robotics and AI. We will all have to work in politics.
- F7u12

Last time I was on holiday to the extent that I could unwind, de-stress, hear myself think I concluded that I did not want to go back. I contacted a former coworker just to get some feelers out there about how the industry was doing. Before my holiday was over I had a signed job offer, and I resigned as soon as I got back to the stressful job.
Lesson learned: Give your employees perpetual emergency brain with no time to step back and reflect. Otherwise they could start to evaluate their situation and whether they really need to stay.
- I'm curious, how long did it take you to come to that conclusion?

TBH this seems like a great motivation to make changes in your life. Somebody who is in a position to take vacations probably has that option more than the people at the absolute bottom layer of the capitalism heap.

I just took two days off leading into last weekend. It was great having the time off, but it pales in comparison to how much time off I have now.
I got fired from my job on monday morning as my first meeting of the day.
Maybe my next job will involve fire.

I just came back from a movie festival where I volunteered and my work there was more fulfilling and meaningful than my everyday job

I worked in a career that I was good at but utterly hated, for 15 years, had a breakdown and then went off to work for a charity. It’s been 8 years in and the difference in fulfilment is night and day. It is possible to go and do a job that makes a difference, that feeds the homeless, or helps sick children. Fuck corporates and the bullshit rat race - there is so much more out there!

I usually come back from vacation exhausted and ready to resume my regular routine. Maybe because "must see all the sights and do all the things, " but it is still true.
- Every Monday and possibly Tuesday I'm basically a vegetable because I refuse to give up my normal days off to only prep for work. Regular chores get done but we add about a days worth of fun into the weekend where it doesn't fit. Fuck work expecting so much of our lives.

If you say or think stuff like this. You have made a wrong choice. Doesn't mean working in general is a bad thing. It can give purpose. If work is your problem you probably don't have a job that suits you.
Wanting to live a free and creative life is not how this planet works, sadly, and it won't ever be like that. So you can either blame everything around you for being shit or take what you can get and make the best of it.
Life sucks, but complaining will not get you anywhere. The fact that you complain, after a holiday, means you have a privilege that many many people don't even enjoy. Not saying your troubles aren't true or invalid, but you can definitely improve if you want to.
- When the slave claims his chains
  
  So what should one do then? I mean surely you have an answer.
  Keep in mind. I am confident that hearing something you don't like doesn't mean it's not true.

Wonder what it'll be like coming back from mental health leave.

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