As someone who is going to have to get a job in 2-3 years, I’m dreading the day. Going to the same place 5 days a week coming home with no time and energy left for anything you actually like and doing this for FOURTY years or even more if you were unlucky, sounds HORRIBLE!! How could anyone actually like working?
Try to get a job you enjoy. For example I had a friend who liked tinkering with cars, he got a job as a auto mechanic. Some days he would be tired after work but on most Saturdays he would still be outside replacing/installing something on his own car.
I liked fixing things and solving problems. The joy when everything worked as it should and the machine started up. Having a problem in mind and breaking it down to separate components then understanding how it all interconnected and then seeing where the failure was. My favorite job was as a engineering technician.
I worked with someone who was going through a rough patch of life(had back issues due to previous job, his wife left him and they were fighting over custody). He straight up told the manager he just wanted a basic job that didn’t require him to think and he could just get into a zone of work. He was given such a job, basically put unit in machine one, press start, take unit out, clean off burrs with file, blow off with compressed air, put unit in machine two, take unit out and pass it to next station. He didn’t know how the machines worked or did he want to. He would call me over when something went wrong or the machines weren’t working right. That said holy shit could he put out a lot of work. His average was about 1.5 times what was expected out of most people, his peak was over 2 times.
Don’t make your favorite hobby your career or you will likely end up with both a hobby and job you hate. Find something adjacent to your favorite hobby.
There’s so many different jobs and situations out there, not everything is doom and gloom with employment or work. I assume you’re in school, which usually takes up just as much (if not considerably more) of your time commitment.
Yeah. A 40-hour-a-week job is less time than school. After graduating, I suddenly had a shitload more free time and money to go with it.
I like my job, I wouldn’t do it for free, but I like it. I like the money it earns to buy cool shit and support my lifestyle. I’d also be so unhealthy if I didn’t have the routine it gives me.
I mean… we gotta eat.
He who does not work, neither shall he eat
I think pretty much everyone wants to feel useful and like they’re contributing to society. I also think the modem idea of a job is awful and oppressive, but I think that’s more of a problem with capitalism. If we had a better economic system, I think we’d have a better relationship with work. I know that if I didn’t have to worry about making money to survive, I wouldn’t be lazy and fuck off all the time, there’s so many projects I would do and help others with. I suspect that’s true for at least 99% of people.
But we live under capitalism right now and many people choose to accept that and try to be happy with wage slavery. “If you get a decent job that makes decent money, it’s not so bad.” But I think we’d be a lot healthier and happier if we rebuilt the system from the ground up.
Just remember, work to live not live to work.
I might be an outlier, but I enjoy working. I like what I do. I also like having money.
Most days, when I get home, I do whatever housework is needed and still have time to spend with my family, work on home projects, or relax and play a game or whatnot.
Take care of yourself by exercising and eating right, find a job you enjoy, and you won’t be dead tired after work. Granted, there are occasional days when I’m exhausted, but they’re the exception, not the norm.
I’m middle age, and as much as you are not looking forward to working, that’s how I feel about retirement. I don’t know if I will ever retire, not because of money, but because I think I’d get bored.
I can only speak for myself, but I enjoy having a regular supply of interesting problems to solve, and the daily routine keeps me grounded.
This is human nature. The “antiwork” crowd isn’t actually against work, but against the exploitative system of how work is executed under capitalism. We all like solving problems and knowing what tomorrow holds for us. If you woke up tomorrow and had absurd “fuck you” money, you’d retire from your job, but you’d still work on things.
Over the years, I’ve learned the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from fixing a thing, replacing a broken/old/inferior thing, installing a thing, etc. I was never particularly handy. I don’t much enjoy the process itself, but the visible and quantifiable and tangible product of my labor and time are so much more fulfilling to me than the fraction of a fraction of an impact to a billionaire’s bottom line, given in exchange for being allowed to have shelter and food.
And really, some jobs are fairly enjoyable too. My wife truly enjoys her job most days, and a lot of that enjoyment comes from her job being less serious. She clocks in, performs tasks in a way that meets expectations while joking with co-workers for a few hours, and clocks out. It’s not all soul crushing, but it’s easier to stomach when it’s <30 hours per week.
Eh, a significant portion of the anti work crowd does seem to think communism is when no ditch digging. This is why communism really requires specific material conditions, because as long as tedious, dangerous jobs exist, there will always be degrees of worker alienation, no matter how much effort the state puts into propaganda which attempts to convince them otherwise.
No one likes working except for a few psychos. Everyone else does so begrudgingly. The trick is to find the least awful job you can stand to do or become one of the psychos. It took me 15 years to find a job that didn’t make me dread waking up every morning, now I only dread most mornings. Luckily one day I’ll be dead because theres no hope for retirement at the rate the world is going to shit.
only slightly /S
Humans are social animals, and we want to feel useful to and accepted by the group.
Furthermore, some amount of work is always required to survive. It’s pretty naturally baked into our brains.
It’s the money, generally. Life is expensive.
Yep.
I want to provide for my wife and kids. Its my purpose and I find it fulfilling.
I’m a slave to capitalism. I want to eat and not live in a box on a street.
I also like playing video games. Kind of hard to play video games if you live in a box on the street.
I’d say aquire as many skills as you can so that one day you can work independently and also save money on things you can do yourself like house repairs or renos. We all need to work to survive but capitalism (unfairness, inequality, abuse…) has made life miserable to millions. The system sucks but you can learn to switch between the system and your lifestyle. Prioritize your life and never be a slave to anyone.
I had the same dread when I was your age. In hindsight I can see a lot of it was because my childhood sucked therefore my perspective on life sucked. I just didn’t know any different then. When I moved away on my own everything changed. I actually enjoyed being an adult and it all came down to freedom. I was in charge of me. I could do whatever I wanted, good or bad. Having to work to support that freedom suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
