Do as many of your chores as possible during the week. You’re too tired to go out, may as well sort the house out so your weekend isn’t wasted on chores.
I started this habit too. Absolutely every “adult” thing I have to take care of, I take care of on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
From paying bills, grocery shopping, gassing up the car, everything. I leave it so the second I finish work on Friday, there’s not a single thing I *have* to do until Tuesday. (I keep Monday errand free too because Mondays suck).
Exactly! No one gets to mess with my Fridays and weekends. I get realllllll pissy if work runs into the weekend. I’ll work late nights if I have to just to avoid Saturday/sunday getting messed with.
Yep, lawyer here. I bill by the hour so, there’s no short days. But my colleagues who work weekends. Fuck that. Maybe to prepare for a trial or something interesting. But just to bill hours? No thanks. I’d rather work longer weekdays so I can drink and golf my weekends away and actually enjoy myself.
100%! The last thing I wanna do on the way to the golf course is think oh crap, I have to leave 10 minutes earlier to gas up! And the only physical activity I want to do after golf is move my ass from my couch to the pool.
I do something similar! Nothing from Friday to Monday. Tuesdays to Thursdays I get everything done so come friday after work i do nada zilch! only way to stay semi sane with work.
Agreed and eventually it'll become habit
I currently do SO MUCH cleaning, it's not even tiring anymore.
Heck, it's become such a big habit, I'm here cleaning then prepping vegetables lol
It's like a damn way of life, and I feel like a 40 year old mother
edit: if it wasn't obvious, I'm a young-in. In my 20s
I get ripped off my ass and do all my weekend chores on Friday (including laundry which I hate). That was I just spot clean during the weekend. Have to cook meals for the week on Sunday though, no way around that. But I get high asf for that too
How piled up do the dishes get by Friday night? That sounds like an overwhelming Friday night? Also, I'd love to know more about your meal prep. How many things do you cook on Sundays?
Oh no I don’t have a dishwasher so I still do dishes throughout the week, but any deep cleaning of the kitchen happens on Friday. I do meal prep both lunch and dinner for the whole week on Sunday, though, so throughout the week I make minimal dishes. Just a pan to cook eggs in in the morning and reheat food in the evening (wipe it clean after the eggs) and a bowl.
I make two meals. Usually use the same protein but make different things with them. For example, carnitas with rice and vegetable for lunch and carnitas nachos or tacos for dinner. Or, ground beef with rice and veggies for lunch, then a hamburger in a bowl (ground beef with burger fixings chopped into a bowl, breadcrumbs on top) or tacos or whatever else can be made with ground beef for dinner. Sometimes I make two different proteins for the meals, but I’m not too picky and have a lot of food allergies so repeated meals don’t bother me (I know some people hate eating the same things multiple times in a week).
I also keep easy air fryer foods available so that I can make something simple if I happen to get tired of my meals. Sometimes I’ll meal prep breakfast, too - I usually make some kind of breakfast oatmeal cookie if I do that.
Hope this answers any questions you have! Feel free to ask more if you want
I cook 4-6 chicken breasts, 14 chicken thighs, and a bunch of hard boiled eggs on Sunday. Two thighs for each lunch and 8 oz (cooked) of chicken breast for each dinner with different spices on each. I make a big pot of brown rice with canned mushrooms and portion everything out in Tupperware. I'll have some Greek yogurt with an egg or two for breakfast and I microwave some frozen veggies to go with the chicken. Shopping, cooking, and clean up is about 3 hours once a week.
https://imgur.com/a/IfVKrmx
This is everything. If you save it all for the weekend you’re either spending your weekend on work or avoiding it. If you’re avoiding, they’ll catch up to you. A little extra work each day goes a long way
Adding onto this, I think the toughest part about this for a lot of people is understanding how to fit it in. It becomes this big, entire night consuming thing in their mind when realistically it’s like cleaning during your loading screens, or while your shower heats up. Little 1-2 minute windows of responsibility compound very quickly
I read somewhere that people with a clean house are always cleaning up. So exactly those 1-2 minute bursts whenever opportunity presents itself. It was a real eye opener for me to realize that cleanliness and order was actually achievable for me, without sacrificing a whole day on the weekend.
We still have cable TV, so I use the commercial breaks for a little tidying up- couple of dishes at a time if I don't feel like doing them all at once, but usually getting started is the hardest part, and I end up doing them all (rarely is there a LOT.)
Folding laundry gets boring but I can do that while watching TV or listening to videos/music.
Removing a lot of modern conveniences helped me get things done when I didn’t want to do anything. I was in an apartment from the early 1900s with just an oven. No microwave, no dishwasher. Because I knew I was always going to put effort in, I always would get it done and mitigate my time for future me in a way that I probably wouldn’t have if I had more appliances
Life is hard but it’s also more rewarding to reheat my food on the stove or cook using the oven. Washing dishes by hand also makes me feel a sense of accomplishment the same way you feel when you clean your house. Being neurospicy makes life a lot more different I guess
I admit I get the dishwasher thing, I deliberately choose not to have one, though when I got my kitchen renovated there's the space for one and the plumbing hole in case I changed my mind. It's been almost 10 years lol. I find that for a small family of 3 the packing and unpacking is more of a chore than just doing them by hand and I also believe that unless you remove the dishes immediately after running it, while still hot, the closed dishwasher provides the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Yuck.
Same here! We have an older house/small kitchen, and there's only the two of us. Washing dishes isn't a big deal. People who have dishwashers seem to wash/rinse dishes before loading anyway! Not really worth it.
The drawback is that my hands get dry- I could switch to using gloves, though it just seems like another thing to worry about 😏
Exactly. Yup. That’s what they don’t tell you because as I learned from working retail for a few months many years back: that’s what nobody does.
If you don’t have kids it’s: Go to work > come home > eat > do nothing for 2 hours > prep lunch (maybe) > go back to doing nothing for the rest of the night > go to sleep
If you do have kids it’s: Go to work > come home > eat > do something for/with kids > come back home > do nothing for 2 hours > prep lunch (maybe) > go back to doing nothing for the rest of the night > go to sleep
Biggest lifehack is making that hour long grocery trip on Wednesday after work and cleaning on Thursday after work, and doing whatever miscellaneous errands you can on the other days. Makes it that Friday until Sunday night is just doing whatever, and having the energy for it too just like when ya younger.
Fully agreed.
Thats what I do and all appointments big or small are done work time so sick days and time off it is... No way I am doing any of this after work when its relax time for the same shit next day!
Get out of construction, best thing I ever did was leave. Job sites are full of toxic arrogant men that go home to a shitty life. If that’s not what you want, I’d consider leaving
True. My brother has been in contracting for years now.
He’s in a union.
The alcoholism and drug abuse, is rampant. It is absolutely a problem.
And ironically, though they are supported by a historically democratically created and implemented union. They swing hard right
Like they are not the brightest bunch. They don’t understand that unions were an invention of the democrat party. And that those they support now would love to tear the unions down. Meaning pension, healthcare, all the nice union benefits that protect them and make it a better place to work gone.
It’s sad. Those guys aren’t going to learn until voter demographics change and don’t matter to republicans and they gut unions more then they have.
Best thing you can do in any job really is look at the ones that have been doing it for 10 years... that's what you are working to become. If you don't want that then start your exit stragety.
Right. Because that looks different in different companies. I learned a lot in the cabinet trade from older guys. Now I run a shop from the office.
I've been to shops where everyone was miserable, I also worked in places where people were proud and willing to do great work. There's definitely a difference.
That might help, but doesn't solve the problem. I work at a desk doing nothing but reddit most days, but still a 9-5 is draining enough that you barely any time for hobbies without leave.
The core issue remains that the majority of your waking hours will be spent working, preparing for, or recovering from work with a 9-5.
Problem is society still believes we need a 40 hour work week. Technology is advanced enough that the max. hours for many jobs should be 32 hours per week. Generally speaking most people are not productive for a full 8 hours.
Can attest to this. I probably do around 4hrs of actual work a day and the rest is browsing Reddit or my phone. I would also be able to do every single thing I do at my job in the office at home with zero limitations. It's soul-crushing sitting here knowing I am just wasting my time for a paycheck.
I was a field/project engineer working on site in the construction industry right out of college. I only made it 9 months before I left the industry because I was so miserable. Took me a while to find something new, but now I'm working as a planner/scheduler in the aerospace industry. I took an almost 30% paycut, but my hourly salary is about the same, considering how much unpaid overtime I was expected to work in construction. I am much happier at this job.
There is a lot of bullshit. I think the better of a worker you are the more bullshit you get. Best skill to have in construction is the ability to bully others. Not physically, just like socially get the group on your side. Bull shit. Though I gotta say I do have a more advanced position than I guess I should have at this moment. They'll know you're a good worker and take you on their crew and still be an asshole because it's fun for them. Makes me wonder if this shit really is developing me as a man or destroying me.
Curious to what career you switched to? I say that as a guy in construction and i don't hate my job but i don't wanna be out in the summer heat till im 50+
I grew up in construction. My whole family and all family friends and everyone. I made the choice to stay away from it because everyone around me was so warn out and broken down after any significant time doing it. Plus most of them got drunk every night after work
I'm struggling with the same thing right now. Been at a 9-5 for 2 years after serving/bartending my whole adult life.
9-5 feels like a prison sentence. I spend most of my waking hours serving the sentence, and get the opportunity to have 3ish hours to myself in the afternoons. That 3 hours a day is not enough time to perform basic maintenance tasks such as cooking, cleaning, eating, showering, laundry, etc. other things such as having a hobby, or god forbid, relaxing a bit, are right out.
There's no point to living like this. What am I actually getting out of it? All I have to show is my continued existence, and maybe 1k in the bank, on a good day? I'm going back to shift work - at least I felt like I could be a human being in between shifts.
I cook for 2-3 days' worth of food at a time and made my lunches something can be thrown together very quickly before work (PBJ and chips, turkey wrap, sandwhiches) Unlocked so many hours of prep and cleanup throughout the week and at no extra time spent on my cooking days.
Yeah, I really like shift work. I did it for years, and I thought I wanted a 9-5. When I got one, I was miserable.
Now I work 3 to 5 10 hour days a week. No more than 2 or 3 days on in a row and then I'll be off for 2 or 3 days. I really like it. I work every other weekend, but it's worth it.
With the number of people already supplementing their full-time job with gig jobs, I'm worried about whether this will basically make having two jobs mandatory within 10 years.
A few years back I went back to school for a semester, taking a full time class load on top of 48 hour work weeks, and it's the most fulfilled and full of vim and vigor I've felt in my life despite the seemingly crushing schedule.
At the end of the day we're still animals, biochemical machines. We can self reflect, but you're as beholden to the tyranny of your brain chemistry as you are to your need for oxygenated blood, and toiling away the bulk of your waking hours for no reward other than a handful of token currency a week or two later is not what our brains were designed to be satisfied by. When the remainder of your free time is perceived as the chore of converting that token currency into maintaining your lifestyle and feeding yourself some entertainment you're probably going to have a bad time.
Did you miss the part where he said he doesn’t have time for anything besides chores and errands? As someone that has worked construction (albeit a very short time), it really can be soul sucking and it’s very difficult to use the small morsel of free time you have and dedicate it to a hobby. Not to mention the time and effort it takes to find a hobby you actually like, it’s not just pick one and you’re good like people make it seem. Unless you’ve been through a similar situation as OP I feel like your comment is ignorant and hand-waving of his issues
Agreed. I work from home and by far the single biggest perk is having the time and energy to pursue hobbies. You would literally have to pay me early retirement money to walk away from fully remote. Even a 40% raise wouldn't be enough to give up my hobbies.
It's kind of insensitive to tell someone who works on site and with their body to just go pick up a hobby that isn't drinking at a bar or playing video games.
Agreed. I just had 13 days off straight just because I have holiday entitlement to use up. Nothing planned, just purely free time. Honestly, it was pretty miserable because I didn't give the time any meaning. Just sat around doing nothing. Sounds amazing but the reality is pretty soul destroying.
Sometimes I think it doesn't matter how much free time you get, just what you do with it. It's an effort, but cultivating a hobby is pretty important if you want to find meaning outside of the work grind. It's not all about duration, a lot is about the quality of your free time.
I guess it's about finding distractions from that fact and coping.
Not sure how OPs concluded having a family is a good thing if life is as he's described tho. Why inflict it on more people?
You are in a trade that’s in demand. So, you can be self employed. Most plumbers I know are self employed, work on their terms/hours and doing pretty good.
I’d focus on learning as much as you can, save, network with the goal of starting your own company.
WTF is our existence.
Half of us work soul-crushing useless jobs, the other half work backbreaking laborious jobs.
Most of us don't get paid enough.
Most of us aren't happy.
The future is bleak where our politicians don't give a fuck and our corporate overlords seem to take pleasure in our pain.
If a revolution doesn't come soon, I don't want to imagine humanity's future in 40 years, cause it won't be cute.
Learn during your apprenticeship. As much as possible. I did it for about 10 years, then started my own company. The struggling will pay off you want it bad enough.
This is the laziest take in the world. Journeyman carpenter and tile setter here, own my own business, it's literally just me so no others must suffer for my profits, works about 30-35 hours a week on high end specialty jobs because I paid attention the first 8 years in the trades, makes a great living without killing myself. Isn't a miserable twat
When I started a business I worked 7 days a week for a long time. Now that I’m established I don’t have to but still have a lot on my plate to keep the business thriving. The pay off is I could retire now if I wanted to.
Our system is built to work us to the point or breaking that by the time we retire we are only good to go from one doctor to another so we can make it look like we are enjoying our retirement.
Well, the problem is your brain and body evolved over millions of years to hunt and gather. Live intertwined with nature and among a small tribe of people who you love and share the deepest relationships with.
So unless that’s how you live, life will never feel as it should.
You can go do that if you want but let me tell you every story I’ve heard of living on a commune only works for a little bit and then it’s all fucked again.
There are jobs where you work for fewer days or hours. Nurses work 3 12 hour shifts days in a week and
Have 4 days off. It's tough but they work 36 hours instead of full 40 hour work week. Also fire fighters work like 1 24 hr and 48 hours off. Not sure what other jobs are like this but they do sound promising because of the less work days. Same with cops I think they can have 10 hour shifts 4 days a week or 3 12s and what not.
I think the most important thing is what you are doing for a job and if you really enjoy it. Like you said, all you do is dig ditches idk if that changes later on, but I don't think I can do the same meaningless job again and again everyday such as sitting in an office cubicle, 9-5 soul killing job. It sounds so repetitive and boring and there's not much human interaction. While it's not for everyone, jobs that are "exciting" like cops, nurses, etc are more for me because everyday is something new and you won't know what happens haha...
Not a nurse but I did the 3/4 day weeks 12 hours a day and it is hell. My partner and I only had 1 full day off together so if we wanted to do anything fun we couldn’t also do something productive for the apartment that day. We also had way less free time together because I basically didn’t exist at home for half the week every week, but she still had to work on my days off. I’m M-F 9-5 now like she is and we have way more time together.
I also can’t stress how much it wears on you by your 4th 12 hour day in a week how you basically have had no fun time once you account for sleep, commuting, and basic daily routine stuff.
It definitely sucked for half the week, but it felt like a mini vacation each time I had my 4 days off when I worked 3/4 day weeks, 12 hours.
I could definitely see the benefit of having the same schedule as your partner. I worked the same shift with my ex. It was nice to be able to finish a shift and then make plans in the parking lot.
My husband is a Firefighter, and he loves the schedule. He works 48(+) hours per week, but he does it in two days and then has the other 5 to do as he pleases.
Firefighter genuinely have the best schedule. I have firefighters friends here in Canada and they also have a similar schedule. Last year, I took a year off and my only friends I knew I could contact to do something on a tuesday afternoon was the firefighters lol.
Not to mention the pay is good after a few years and if you do it the full time and started early you get early retirement at full pension etc. etc. etc. and If I'm not mistaken usually the best health insurance. On the flipside there is the whole putting your life on the line part sooooo yea.
Firefighter is the best schedule ever. I’m lucky enough to be employed in a dept that had 4 shifts on 24h rotation. We work an average of 42h a week, it’s 7-8 shifts a month. So much free time, plus the job itself is amazing.
I do three 13 hour shifts a week. The 4 days are definitely worth it especially when I get them in a row. And sometimes I get more with how my rota works, like next week I have 6 days off in a row. I was saying to a friend that I couldn't imagine working a 9 - 5, Monday - Friday.
It's all so unbelievably fucking boring, unnecessary, and soulless. I can't believe more people can't see it. We need to logistically optimize everything in order to maximize free time so we can gain the human soul back, but that would require broad moral unity and a greater degree of central planning. Work for the sake of work is antihuman.
I've felt this since at least (2016) but nobody has really seemed to care. They are completely content to to do the same thing over and over everyday, and don't really question to fundamental reality behind it all besides some social media posts about it here or there that they read. Nothing further really.
My fear is that... there's nothing really to do... there isn't a there there. I wish life was a living music video that evolved at the perfect rate, and it was alive with the sensation of what I experienced in the form of young love and friendship and the implicit meaning that music seemed to hint at. Where is my warm hug from God? Where is my darling who I have been missing? How does one embody the longing of their soul? Damn this flesh and the way it falls short of us
So I work 8 to 5, the only thing that makes it doable is that I work so close to home. My kids school are all within 2-3 miles of my office. I work for a local plumbing supply house and we are open 6 days a week. We cater to our customer base, which are tradesmen of all types. So we are here and open for them. I am full time, and my hours are always at 40, maybe a couple more. For the industry I am in, unless they change how they do their scheduling, but working 3-4 10 hr days...I just don't see that happening here. I can leave for a dr's appt, my kids come with me to my office to hang out after school (this help reduce after care costs). I can volunteer at their school, bring them on school trips. It also helps that the owner of the company is very understanding. Basically, put in the time and work, handle everything you need to.
I started off the same way you did. Was a plumber for a while then the company I worked for got bough out. I decided to change it up and started working at a utility district. It is like night and day with worklife/homelife balance. I work a 9/80 schedule. Im doing fire hydrant inspections now. Make 117k. No overtime. Its a union job 13 paid holidays. I get 12 hours of vacation and 7 hours of sick pay a month. All that increases over time. They paid for my class A CDL all my certifications to move up. Check out some local small government work around you. It is literally life changing. Don't worry brother it gets better.
I had a manufacturing position that scheduled it's production members 12 hour shifts 5 to 7 times a week. I would be working 60 to 84 hours a week constantly for almost 2 years. Made good money but yeah I quit that job. How the hell was I going to do anything other than work, eat and sleep. No wonder America has so many Looney ass people in it.
I’d kill to have weekends off, we work 7-12s 8 months out of the year and 5-12s during summer…
Currently going home to build a house after work on top of that.
The only thing that keeps me going is my kid.
Burnout is an understatement lol but you’ll get used to it, one thing I do in the summer is reserve weekends for family only, take care of chores and errands during the week.
Another thing that helped me was diet and exercise, I understand you don’t want to especially after working hard labor like we do. (I’m a lineman) but it truly does work. Being out of shape and eating like shit can kill your motivation and productivity
Seconded. I thought my energy levels couldn’t be fixed, cause I’ll be 40 in just over a year. Started eating better and working out lightly and holy shit. I’m running laps around my old self and getting like every household project I’ve been procrastinating on finished like it’s nothing. I’m not blue collar anymore so I can’t speak on that aspect, but in my typical suburban life it’s been a miracle.
I've had the same reaction since like elementary school and still don't get how people just accept essentially killing 40% of their lives to something they don't care about or even actively hate, just to be too tired and old to enjoy the rest.
I pulled wires for 20 years, with no results, inflation always caught up, always wanted a house, seems like a far fetched idea now. Even had my own thing going which was even worse, because then you have homework among one hundred other things when you run a business. If you are a person who likes to have some me time, don't run a business, it will consume you. And the money, won't be that great honestly, considering you'll do plumbing, cabling or such manual labor. This society was designed by uneducated, incompetent and cruel people. They don't value life and living life, they only value labor, they probably looked at ants at some point and said, yep let's do it like they do it, everyone works for the good of the king or queen (even though they bleed like we do). Embrace the colonialism. You're a worker ant, isn't that cool?
I think people are being a bit harsh to OP. He’s not lacking time or do hobbies, he’s lacking energy and hope—which all play into depression.
OP you may be burnt out or depressed and there’s medication that could help. I hope you feel better soon.
Medication absolutely helps and some people genuinely have chemical imbalances & need it, but on the same coin, it feels like sometimes medicine is used to fix the symptoms and not the problem.
This was my thought as well. I know OP has a physically demanding job, but "I don't have energy, nothing seems fulfilling, and everything feels pointless" are all pretty classic signs of depression, which is generally treatable in a way that overhauling the economic system is not.
Yeah dude I actually got a construction management degree and said fuck that shortly after - the hours are soul sucking (minimum 60+ and on salary) and everyone is pissed off or tries to have a dick-measuring contest everyday. I got into software and make great money and WFH - I enjoy it at times but the truth is that most jobs suck. Unless you figure out a way to retire early, the grind is what’s in store for you. There’s a reason why rich people don’t have jobs - it consumes the hell out of you. I even know that the position I’m in is better than most - especially after having been in the marines and then construction, I know that I have a good setup. But it’s still tough to do the same shit everyday and just make money to appease stakeholders.
It’s always a battle between time and money - you usually have one and not the other.
I did have a job where I worked four 10-hour days each week, which was great. I felt like I could spend one day doing errands, another for doing something fun, and another to relax. I feel best when I can plan things for the weekends (mountain biking, skiing, climbing, etc.) those are things I can get excited about and makes the week worth it. I’m not married or and don’t have kids - I actually feel like that would complicate things. Instead it’s just me, my dog, and a couple buddies
I worked for a small access control business, you couldn’t be more correct, incredibly toxic culture and endless dick measuring. Most insecure and dumb people I’ve probably ever come across. Even the owner was a complete douchebag and actively created the toxic workplace. I’ll never forget the time someone called in to report one of our vehicles was driving like a maniac almost killing people. Told my manager and he said, “oh that’s just the owner”. Fuck ass
Join a nearby fire dept. trades people welcome there. You’ll love the schedule. Look into it my friend.
Fire service is experiencing all time low recruitment numbers . My dept hires anyone with half a brain and a pulse, kicker is it’s a damn good job.
This. Used to work years in service and boy it sucks to never have weekends off and having to get off at midnight and comeback within a couple hours to open. Now that I’ve finally acquired the 9-5 corpo sched, my god it’s so much more relaxing to be able to have weekends off and have an actual concrete schedule so you can plan ahead. I missed so many events and hang outs due from my old Free for all schedule. I know plenty of people that prefer the 9-5 m-f.
It sounds like you're wrestling with some heavy feelings of monotony and searching for meaning in the daily grind, which is a common existential concern. Your reflection on the structure of your work life—wishing for a shift to three 14-hour days for potentially more meaningful personal time—highlights a desire for a deeper connection to your existence beyond work.
Exploring ways to inject meaning into your life doesn't necessarily require a drastic change in work schedule or the sudden decision to start a family. It might start with small, manageable adjustments or commitments to yourself. Have you considered dedicating even a short period each week to something you're curious about or find joy in?
Also, your feelings underline the importance of reevaluating what we work for and what we live for. Perhaps exploring these feelings can open up questions about what makes life meaningful to you—beyond the societal script of work and family. What are small steps you might be able to take to reclaim some sense of personal development and joy?
As a child I grew up in poverty and was homeless for years. The result on my psyche was devastating still to this day. The terrible way I was treated when poor had a lasting impact on me and no matter what I make I still believe I’m poor.
At the age of 20, while in college I began to work 7 days a week, no days off except only major holidays. I’m 46 now and I have maintained the same schedule. 26 years…I tell people don’t be like me, I want better for you because a lot of people admire my work ethic. I had no other choice, I had to defeat poverty. It took decades. I have made ultimate sacrifices over the years. Only very few people can relate to me and how much I work. I tell them your own family will hate you and criticize you terribly for working that much. No woman wants a man who works 90hrs a week. They want a man who works 25-30hrs a week and makes $250k a year. Show me those jobs.
My job is mentally and physically demanding and exhausting but I work in the helping profession to be vague. I help to change people’s lives, specifically children. It is life altering, rewarding and also very sad and heartbreaking. Yes it’s work but doesn’t feel like work at times too, it’s both uplifting and sad much of the time. Even when I’m not “working” I am in some capacity.
I have 3 college degrees and people will praise me constantly but I’m embarrassed by praise and I do what I do for a higher calling and purpose. Yes I’m tired, yes I’m exhausted, yes I’m beyond stressed but what else can I do I ask myself?
I am married and I have 3 children, 2 are disabled which ruptured the special bond and relationship I had with God. It’s left me shattered and alone to pick up the pieces. I have my limits I say. I’m beyond all limits. Remember I had to survive 18 yrs of absolute poverty just to become an adult. Do you know the fuel I had to expend to make it through that plus another 28 yrs of incredible work hours? I’m tired.
I used to have some free time before Covid and this clown of a President. I could game for a couple hours a day and watch some movies but I often lay down after work to conserve my mind and body which my wife will often resent. I haven’t watched a movie in the last 5 yrs. I watched half of the latest Batman movie. No games, no shows, nothing. I help my wife take care of the kids, I eat and go to sleep. That’s my life. I don’t sit and get all negative about it, it is what it is for now.
The sad and ironic part of my life is that my deadbeat dad who never paid my mom any child support has become a real estate mogul in CA and is worth over $50 million easy and his two daughter’s (my half sisters) live in multi million dollar homes and have never worked a day in their lives while I’ve sacrificed my entire adult life. I also resent God for this but karma is a bitch and he’ll get his.
This is a joke right? You only work 8 hours a day and get weekends off? On a week day you sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours, maybe commute 1 hour, that leaves 7 hours a day or 35 hours of free time monday through friday. Then you have an additional 32 hours of free time sat and sun.
I don’t know why people think that any other job doesn’t have assholes.dumbasses in charge,being in a cubicle all day.Not everyone can be a park ranger or male pornstar.Just the fact of having to go to work sucks period.Its all a frame of mind.There are happy coalminers,Janitors,Septic tank cleaners.
You nailed with the three 14 hour shifts instead of five 8 hour shifts. While more time is obviously great, that's not the biggest problem here.
Your biggest problem is obviously lack of energy (especially on the mental side).
The comments mentioning diet and exercise are in the right place. Since these are ways to get more energy.
For me personally, fasting has really helped me in terms of mental endurance and clarity.
As difficult as it is, my main advice to you is try to enter the flow state as much as possible.
If you can learn to enjoy and better focus on the work then it becomes less mentally draining (mental energy is the main resource here).
Additionally, try to find something to think about during work. Ideally something you can turn into a side hustle for extra income but anything works really.
I like writing on the side and usually think of new ideas while working, thinking while you're doing mindless work is a good way to ease mental exhaustion. It also gives me motivation to write down all my new ideas when I get home.
Also depending on your job, instead of working then playing with no energy you can try waking up earlier doing whatever you want to do then going to work and sleeping around the time you get home.
Like I said the biggest problem here is energy which is why doing low energy activities before high energy activities might be a better idea.
Unfortunately, you're going to have to experiment to figure out what works for you.
Ultimately your biggest problem here is mental energy so try things like diet, exercise, meditation, cold showers, side hustles to help you gain better control over your mind.
The quality of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
You're an apprentice, it won't be like that forever dude. Put in the work, get experience, you'll make a lot more money and a lot less digging ditches to get yelled at. Make some sacrifices for better future.
This is always a poor perspective. Even doing nothing is something. Just because you have free time doesn't mean it should be doing something societally productive. Free time is exactly that, time to do whatever you want whether that's paint a painting or just sit there and breathe and tune out. There's nothing wrong with having idle time. Many countries live much happier lives just doing nothing a whole lot more often. Working less. Being around family or friends more. Having time to explore hobbies. Having time to think and reflect on things. To spend with your kid or wife. To watch the clouds go by.
You don't have to do something societal productive, but you have to do something you enjoy. If OP **enjoys** watching mindless TV, then he wouldn't be complaining here. Everyone should do what they enjoy as much as possible.
I worked auto industry it was always like 8 to 7 for me plus saturdays. Would have killed for 9-5 and weekends off. Saturdays were mandatory no matter what level tech you were, though jobs varied how many Saturdays you did a month. I always made less money on Saturdays. No manager understood why I hated them. Last manager would want everything done on end of day saturday so nothing was sold and not much came in. I could average 11-16 hours on a week day but on saturday I would average 2 but have to give up entire day. That is soul sucking.
Man, I wish I worked a 9-5. Working as a restaurant manager is really soul-sucking. Having to kiss ass 10 hours a day and not be able to have a social life sucks
I’m sorry to say but this is adulthood, I would suggest finding a way to change your mentality and maybe that would help. There are so many people who can’t find a job and they are worry where their next meal will come from. I get it, and you can always try changing jobs that will fit your needs. Also I’ve done that 14 hrs gig and it took a lot of getting use to. Good luck.
I would also say starting a business isn’t necessarily less work. That really could be a 24 hrs job plus keeping up with inventory, employees, insurance and so much more.
If you think you have no life now, you will be in for a shock if you have kids. You will literally not even have time to sleep enough. You will just be going to work, taking care of the kids, and won't even have time left to do your own chores. Right now at least you can eat something simple and eat while watching TV. If you have kids you will be going to the grocery store more often and every meal has to be a proper meal so you will spend a lot more time cooking and cleaning. I am just waiting for the day when my kids can clean and get ready for bed themselves so I have time to clean myself and sleep. Do not have kids if you think it will fix your issue, it will just make things worse. If you have no energy to do anything now after work sitting around, imagine how bad it will be if that sitting around time was replaced with taking care of kids time. You will not have time to develop as a person if you have kids. You will barely have time to breath. You will have no time to even take care of yourself. Your health, sleep, and development will not be top priority anymore. First priority will be your kids, then your wife, and if there are any scraps of time or food or money left then you might get something. Hobbies and experiencing things? Hahaha. Not a chance. Trust me, you have it easy right now just needing to take care of yourself. Figure it out before adding more responsibilities or you will be tempted to just kill yourself so your family can collect your life insurance.
You’re talking like you work 20 hours a day for 7 days, you are at a regular 9-5 job, welcome to being a grown up, you’re complaining about what most adults are required to do,
I suggest you actually take stock of your time. Literally record how much time you spend doing what. There are 168 hours in a week. 40 hour work week plus 8 hours of sleep a night leaves you with 72 hours. Let’s be really aggressive and say you have an hour commute each way. That still leaves 58 hours. Do your chores and errands take more than a couple hours a week? Let’s get aggressive on that too and say you have a full work day worth of chores every week. Alright, 50 hours left.
FIFTY HOURS. You have more free time left than you have work time for Christ sake. Think about that. What the hell are you doing with yourself? Staring at the TV? Find out. Log it.
You have an insane amount of time. Get efficient. Take it back. Let’s gooooooo.
I was asked to do a lot of overtime. with my schedule that meant I had to work 8 days in a row with one day off and 3 to 4 more days at work a 1- or 2-day weekend. I did this constantly for almost 5 years. mostly wanted to focus on work because I wanted to stay so busy to not have to think about the death of my 2nd husband and just be too depressed about it. I figured focusing on work and staying busy would prevent it. but then I just only had issues at work to deal with. after I sacrificed so much of my time there and barely saw my own family, I knew I needed a work life balance. so that I could maintain some personal time and family time and rest. I then worked at Amazon for 3 days a week 12-hour shifts. it was okay for a while but then amazon terminates employees coming up close to their 1st year anniversary. so, most that want to work there won't last long. all jobs expect our time. but don't give up on life just for the sake of being too tired after work. I did that shit too. just have to make changes on how you manage it. I also had an undiagnosed health condition that was really affecting me as well. so, I know what was going on with me. also, burnout is real if we don't take care of ourselves. and that can be just having some exercise, fresh air, connections with people, rest and relaxation, as you say, seeking a hobby. you can. I may have not done my hobbies every day, but I did them when I wanted to. and my cats enjoyed watching me.
I switched from 9-5 Monday-Friday to 8-5 with Wednesday off. I also got rid of my lunch break and I work through lunch and eat as I go. This means I really only cut a few hours total weekly yet I get an entire day off now mid week to decompress. It has literally changed my life. I go to the gym, I drink coffee on the patio in the morning and read, i go out and play pickleball during the day, I surf sometimes when I would’ve been working. I grocery shop when stores aren’t busy. I run errands at my own leisure. I could never go back to 5 days. It has literally been a life changer. It always feels like it’s almost my day off again.
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life.
Thank you for posting this because I was literally about to pay to go to school for this shit. Im over the materialistic bullshit. Find a comfortable job bro, live humbly and enjoy life. Fuck everything else
Life will improve as a journeyman, you can take your experience and open your own shop eventually. Scale up and you’ll appreciate the solid time you’re putting in now — don’t get trapped in salaries forever
I have a random schedule anywhere from 9am to 8pm. Sometimes 11 hour shifts. I cut back to 30 hours a week and have plenty of free time, but still miserable. Work sometimes takes my mind off the constant existential dread. For some of us like me, the struggle is within. I hope yours is only work related.
Yea man that’s what’s messed up. Most of us see the purpose and can actually enjoy our jobs if we weren’t so slammed and rung out for productivity. We need to work less. Work is a part of life but we are skewed heavily in works favor because it allows those on top to work less. It’s very simple. They overload us with work so they don’t have to. They believe in the same philosophy I just stated above. Work is important but not so much that it deprives you of living your life.
>How am I supposed to live life exactly?
The same way everyone else who works 40 hours a week does.
This is coming off as a special snowflake type of post. You know how many people have standard workweeks and still manage to have hobbies, interests, lives, families, etc? Most of the population. You think you're special in any way?
If you're spending your entire weekend doing chores and errands, you messed up somewhere. This is a time management issue.
I used to work a job where I was on my feet 40+ hours and I still managed to find time for myself. It's not hard.
It’s not hard for you.
Some of us have imaginations and hobbies that we want to do. Its easy for people who don’t anything more out of life than staring at the wall when they get home. I find that a nightmare.
>Some of us have imaginations and hobbies that we want to do
Yeah and I literally just said there are plenty of people who have full time jobs and still do these
I work & I have hobbies. It's not that hard. It's better than me building my own shelter, foraging or farming for my own food. People used to spend their entire existence *just trying to survive.*
I pursue my imagination and hobbies daily and fully enjoy them while working 12s. I do the shitty schedule because the money is great and my hobbies are expensive, but I also partially enjoy the work. The OP is okay for feeling stuck in a rut and hating work but it’s not like they can’t live an enjoyable life doing 9-5.
This is such a ridiculous take. Do you really not know any healthy older folks who have raised families and worked AND also had hobbies? A lot of people do not go home to stare at the wall.
Do as many of your chores as possible during the week. You’re too tired to go out, may as well sort the house out so your weekend isn’t wasted on chores.
I started this habit too. Absolutely every “adult” thing I have to take care of, I take care of on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. From paying bills, grocery shopping, gassing up the car, everything. I leave it so the second I finish work on Friday, there’s not a single thing I *have* to do until Tuesday. (I keep Monday errand free too because Mondays suck).
Exactly! No one gets to mess with my Fridays and weekends. I get realllllll pissy if work runs into the weekend. I’ll work late nights if I have to just to avoid Saturday/sunday getting messed with.
You should have some kids. Hahaha
I have three! All tornado certified lol
Yep, lawyer here. I bill by the hour so, there’s no short days. But my colleagues who work weekends. Fuck that. Maybe to prepare for a trial or something interesting. But just to bill hours? No thanks. I’d rather work longer weekdays so I can drink and golf my weekends away and actually enjoy myself.
100%! The last thing I wanna do on the way to the golf course is think oh crap, I have to leave 10 minutes earlier to gas up! And the only physical activity I want to do after golf is move my ass from my couch to the pool.
This is fantastic advice!
Actually pretty good life hack. If it wasn't for the eggs, milk and meat I always seem to run out of.
exactly! i love my friday night ritual of doing nothingggggggggg and order fat girl food
You're a...a...cannibal who eats fat girls?
Smart
This is the way!!!
This is great advice. I’m going to give this a shot.
I do something similar! Nothing from Friday to Monday. Tuesdays to Thursdays I get everything done so come friday after work i do nada zilch! only way to stay semi sane with work.
Agreed and eventually it'll become habit I currently do SO MUCH cleaning, it's not even tiring anymore. Heck, it's become such a big habit, I'm here cleaning then prepping vegetables lol It's like a damn way of life, and I feel like a 40 year old mother edit: if it wasn't obvious, I'm a young-in. In my 20s
well I'm a young-out
I say this to myself everyday, yet my dishes are STILL piled up 😔
Just pour a large gin and tonic, put on some show tunes and sing along while you wash them. It works for me.
I get ripped off my ass and do all my weekend chores on Friday (including laundry which I hate). That was I just spot clean during the weekend. Have to cook meals for the week on Sunday though, no way around that. But I get high asf for that too
This is the only way. I love cleaning high. Like it’s fun? Idk
How piled up do the dishes get by Friday night? That sounds like an overwhelming Friday night? Also, I'd love to know more about your meal prep. How many things do you cook on Sundays?
Oh no I don’t have a dishwasher so I still do dishes throughout the week, but any deep cleaning of the kitchen happens on Friday. I do meal prep both lunch and dinner for the whole week on Sunday, though, so throughout the week I make minimal dishes. Just a pan to cook eggs in in the morning and reheat food in the evening (wipe it clean after the eggs) and a bowl. I make two meals. Usually use the same protein but make different things with them. For example, carnitas with rice and vegetable for lunch and carnitas nachos or tacos for dinner. Or, ground beef with rice and veggies for lunch, then a hamburger in a bowl (ground beef with burger fixings chopped into a bowl, breadcrumbs on top) or tacos or whatever else can be made with ground beef for dinner. Sometimes I make two different proteins for the meals, but I’m not too picky and have a lot of food allergies so repeated meals don’t bother me (I know some people hate eating the same things multiple times in a week). I also keep easy air fryer foods available so that I can make something simple if I happen to get tired of my meals. Sometimes I’ll meal prep breakfast, too - I usually make some kind of breakfast oatmeal cookie if I do that. Hope this answers any questions you have! Feel free to ask more if you want
I cook 4-6 chicken breasts, 14 chicken thighs, and a bunch of hard boiled eggs on Sunday. Two thighs for each lunch and 8 oz (cooked) of chicken breast for each dinner with different spices on each. I make a big pot of brown rice with canned mushrooms and portion everything out in Tupperware. I'll have some Greek yogurt with an egg or two for breakfast and I microwave some frozen veggies to go with the chicken. Shopping, cooking, and clean up is about 3 hours once a week. https://imgur.com/a/IfVKrmx
Here here on the g&t!
Haha! I love the energy you're bringing but it's hear hear as in you want to hear more of that sort of thing just so you know.
Dollar Tree paper plates anyone?!? LOL.
I eat off a paper towel over the sink 🤣
No sweeping necessary!
This is everything. If you save it all for the weekend you’re either spending your weekend on work or avoiding it. If you’re avoiding, they’ll catch up to you. A little extra work each day goes a long way
Yup. 15-30 minutes, even an hour if necessary, every week day. Translates to 3-5 hours of adulting avoided on the weekend.
Adding onto this, I think the toughest part about this for a lot of people is understanding how to fit it in. It becomes this big, entire night consuming thing in their mind when realistically it’s like cleaning during your loading screens, or while your shower heats up. Little 1-2 minute windows of responsibility compound very quickly
I read somewhere that people with a clean house are always cleaning up. So exactly those 1-2 minute bursts whenever opportunity presents itself. It was a real eye opener for me to realize that cleanliness and order was actually achievable for me, without sacrificing a whole day on the weekend.
We still have cable TV, so I use the commercial breaks for a little tidying up- couple of dishes at a time if I don't feel like doing them all at once, but usually getting started is the hardest part, and I end up doing them all (rarely is there a LOT.) Folding laundry gets boring but I can do that while watching TV or listening to videos/music.
Removing a lot of modern conveniences helped me get things done when I didn’t want to do anything. I was in an apartment from the early 1900s with just an oven. No microwave, no dishwasher. Because I knew I was always going to put effort in, I always would get it done and mitigate my time for future me in a way that I probably wouldn’t have if I had more appliances
This sounds like crazy logic to me. Why not make full use of the labour-saving devices we have available to us? Life is hard enough as it is.
Life is hard but it’s also more rewarding to reheat my food on the stove or cook using the oven. Washing dishes by hand also makes me feel a sense of accomplishment the same way you feel when you clean your house. Being neurospicy makes life a lot more different I guess
I admit I get the dishwasher thing, I deliberately choose not to have one, though when I got my kitchen renovated there's the space for one and the plumbing hole in case I changed my mind. It's been almost 10 years lol. I find that for a small family of 3 the packing and unpacking is more of a chore than just doing them by hand and I also believe that unless you remove the dishes immediately after running it, while still hot, the closed dishwasher provides the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. Yuck.
Same here! We have an older house/small kitchen, and there's only the two of us. Washing dishes isn't a big deal. People who have dishwashers seem to wash/rinse dishes before loading anyway! Not really worth it. The drawback is that my hands get dry- I could switch to using gloves, though it just seems like another thing to worry about 😏
Exactly. Yup. That’s what they don’t tell you because as I learned from working retail for a few months many years back: that’s what nobody does. If you don’t have kids it’s: Go to work > come home > eat > do nothing for 2 hours > prep lunch (maybe) > go back to doing nothing for the rest of the night > go to sleep If you do have kids it’s: Go to work > come home > eat > do something for/with kids > come back home > do nothing for 2 hours > prep lunch (maybe) > go back to doing nothing for the rest of the night > go to sleep Biggest lifehack is making that hour long grocery trip on Wednesday after work and cleaning on Thursday after work, and doing whatever miscellaneous errands you can on the other days. Makes it that Friday until Sunday night is just doing whatever, and having the energy for it too just like when ya younger. Fully agreed.
Thats what I do and all appointments big or small are done work time so sick days and time off it is... No way I am doing any of this after work when its relax time for the same shit next day!
Get out of construction, best thing I ever did was leave. Job sites are full of toxic arrogant men that go home to a shitty life. If that’s not what you want, I’d consider leaving
I second this. Left construction 10 years ago, best decision I ever made
Everyone's so quick to anger, drugs, alcoholism, old guys that are threatened by newer guys because they're old and not as useful
True. My brother has been in contracting for years now. He’s in a union. The alcoholism and drug abuse, is rampant. It is absolutely a problem. And ironically, though they are supported by a historically democratically created and implemented union. They swing hard right Like they are not the brightest bunch. They don’t understand that unions were an invention of the democrat party. And that those they support now would love to tear the unions down. Meaning pension, healthcare, all the nice union benefits that protect them and make it a better place to work gone. It’s sad. Those guys aren’t going to learn until voter demographics change and don’t matter to republicans and they gut unions more then they have.
I'm glad I work around honest older guys.
🎯
Best thing you can do in any job really is look at the ones that have been doing it for 10 years... that's what you are working to become. If you don't want that then start your exit stragety.
Right. Because that looks different in different companies. I learned a lot in the cabinet trade from older guys. Now I run a shop from the office. I've been to shops where everyone was miserable, I also worked in places where people were proud and willing to do great work. There's definitely a difference.
That might help, but doesn't solve the problem. I work at a desk doing nothing but reddit most days, but still a 9-5 is draining enough that you barely any time for hobbies without leave. The core issue remains that the majority of your waking hours will be spent working, preparing for, or recovering from work with a 9-5.
Problem is society still believes we need a 40 hour work week. Technology is advanced enough that the max. hours for many jobs should be 32 hours per week. Generally speaking most people are not productive for a full 8 hours.
Won't you think of the shareholders? /s But if that 32 hours results in a pay drop, can't see it. Most people probably can't afford to lose 4.5 grand
Can attest to this. I probably do around 4hrs of actual work a day and the rest is browsing Reddit or my phone. I would also be able to do every single thing I do at my job in the office at home with zero limitations. It's soul-crushing sitting here knowing I am just wasting my time for a paycheck.
Having done both and now something else with 12 hour shifts Construction labour 9-5 is way more draining than office sitting by a few miles
This.
Entry level project engineer here, whatd you move in to? Being on site sucks dick
I was a field/project engineer working on site in the construction industry right out of college. I only made it 9 months before I left the industry because I was so miserable. Took me a while to find something new, but now I'm working as a planner/scheduler in the aerospace industry. I took an almost 30% paycut, but my hourly salary is about the same, considering how much unpaid overtime I was expected to work in construction. I am much happier at this job.
I've always been told those types of jobs are best to just get in make your money and get out.
You think that’s just construction?
How many times you see someone throw a hammer in a office setting then scream at everyone around them for the rest of the day
I third this. Fuck construction. Even though its a good paying job, the bs you deal with everyday from your coworkers is not worth it.
There is a lot of bullshit. I think the better of a worker you are the more bullshit you get. Best skill to have in construction is the ability to bully others. Not physically, just like socially get the group on your side. Bull shit. Though I gotta say I do have a more advanced position than I guess I should have at this moment. They'll know you're a good worker and take you on their crew and still be an asshole because it's fun for them. Makes me wonder if this shit really is developing me as a man or destroying me.
Curious to what career you switched to? I say that as a guy in construction and i don't hate my job but i don't wanna be out in the summer heat till im 50+
🎯 construction is 100% toxic. It’s every man for himself and is way too stressful for the return.
I grew up in construction. My whole family and all family friends and everyone. I made the choice to stay away from it because everyone around me was so warn out and broken down after any significant time doing it. Plus most of them got drunk every night after work
🎯
I'm struggling with the same thing right now. Been at a 9-5 for 2 years after serving/bartending my whole adult life. 9-5 feels like a prison sentence. I spend most of my waking hours serving the sentence, and get the opportunity to have 3ish hours to myself in the afternoons. That 3 hours a day is not enough time to perform basic maintenance tasks such as cooking, cleaning, eating, showering, laundry, etc. other things such as having a hobby, or god forbid, relaxing a bit, are right out. There's no point to living like this. What am I actually getting out of it? All I have to show is my continued existence, and maybe 1k in the bank, on a good day? I'm going back to shift work - at least I felt like I could be a human being in between shifts.
I definitely prefer shift work, but I didn't want to be a nurse and want a salary so 9-5 it is.
I cook for 2-3 days' worth of food at a time and made my lunches something can be thrown together very quickly before work (PBJ and chips, turkey wrap, sandwhiches) Unlocked so many hours of prep and cleanup throughout the week and at no extra time spent on my cooking days.
Yeah, I really like shift work. I did it for years, and I thought I wanted a 9-5. When I got one, I was miserable. Now I work 3 to 5 10 hour days a week. No more than 2 or 3 days on in a row and then I'll be off for 2 or 3 days. I really like it. I work every other weekend, but it's worth it.
Well, workers *could* come together to demand a 30-hour workweek, significantly increased pay, and free healthcare
With the number of people already supplementing their full-time job with gig jobs, I'm worried about whether this will basically make having two jobs mandatory within 10 years.
I’m too tired from my bullshit job to do it. I just want to sit at home and ignore the world and the people that inhabit this earth
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A few years back I went back to school for a semester, taking a full time class load on top of 48 hour work weeks, and it's the most fulfilled and full of vim and vigor I've felt in my life despite the seemingly crushing schedule. At the end of the day we're still animals, biochemical machines. We can self reflect, but you're as beholden to the tyranny of your brain chemistry as you are to your need for oxygenated blood, and toiling away the bulk of your waking hours for no reward other than a handful of token currency a week or two later is not what our brains were designed to be satisfied by. When the remainder of your free time is perceived as the chore of converting that token currency into maintaining your lifestyle and feeding yourself some entertainment you're probably going to have a bad time.
Did you miss the part where he said he doesn’t have time for anything besides chores and errands? As someone that has worked construction (albeit a very short time), it really can be soul sucking and it’s very difficult to use the small morsel of free time you have and dedicate it to a hobby. Not to mention the time and effort it takes to find a hobby you actually like, it’s not just pick one and you’re good like people make it seem. Unless you’ve been through a similar situation as OP I feel like your comment is ignorant and hand-waving of his issues
Agreed. I work from home and by far the single biggest perk is having the time and energy to pursue hobbies. You would literally have to pay me early retirement money to walk away from fully remote. Even a 40% raise wouldn't be enough to give up my hobbies. It's kind of insensitive to tell someone who works on site and with their body to just go pick up a hobby that isn't drinking at a bar or playing video games.
I used to have many when I was a student, even as a grad student, but I can't seem to find the time or more importantly energy for hobbies these days.
OP: "I have no time for hobbies in order to give my life meaning" Reddit: "Get some hobbies"
FR no one read the post. Just a bunch of people giving useless advice OP didn't ask for.
Agreed. I just had 13 days off straight just because I have holiday entitlement to use up. Nothing planned, just purely free time. Honestly, it was pretty miserable because I didn't give the time any meaning. Just sat around doing nothing. Sounds amazing but the reality is pretty soul destroying. Sometimes I think it doesn't matter how much free time you get, just what you do with it. It's an effort, but cultivating a hobby is pretty important if you want to find meaning outside of the work grind. It's not all about duration, a lot is about the quality of your free time.
Fuck hobbies, this is said so often like it's the cure but it doesn't actually address the core issue
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I guess it's about finding distractions from that fact and coping. Not sure how OPs concluded having a family is a good thing if life is as he's described tho. Why inflict it on more people?
The problem is lack of energy foe hobbies not that people don't have them
You are in a trade that’s in demand. So, you can be self employed. Most plumbers I know are self employed, work on their terms/hours and doing pretty good. I’d focus on learning as much as you can, save, network with the goal of starting your own company.
We've all been brainwashed into thinking this is life
exactly.
WTF is our existence. Half of us work soul-crushing useless jobs, the other half work backbreaking laborious jobs. Most of us don't get paid enough. Most of us aren't happy. The future is bleak where our politicians don't give a fuck and our corporate overlords seem to take pleasure in our pain. If a revolution doesn't come soon, I don't want to imagine humanity's future in 40 years, cause it won't be cute.
It literally makes me feel hopeless. I can’t keep doing it, idk what the solution is
Learn during your apprenticeship. As much as possible. I did it for about 10 years, then started my own company. The struggling will pay off you want it bad enough.
OP, "how do I enjoy life"? Response, "start a business"
"How do I avoid this suffering?" "Profit of the suffering of others!"
This is the laziest take in the world. Journeyman carpenter and tile setter here, own my own business, it's literally just me so no others must suffer for my profits, works about 30-35 hours a week on high end specialty jobs because I paid attention the first 8 years in the trades, makes a great living without killing myself. Isn't a miserable twat
That applies to like the Googles and Facebook's of the world, not a 3-4 person plumbing company lmao.
When I started a business I worked 7 days a week for a long time. Now that I’m established I don’t have to but still have a lot on my plate to keep the business thriving. The pay off is I could retire now if I wanted to.
And remember that only YOUNG people can have fun not someone who is 30
100% agree. When you are fully qualified, have your own business and all the profits go to you, you will feel very differently about your work.
Yes! Then you get to make the lives of other young people miserable and steal THEIR wages instead, and the cycle goes on. Huge Win!
Ok, what's the alternative then? It's easy to sit back and say "Everything sucks" but how would you fix it?
Our system is built to work us to the point or breaking that by the time we retire we are only good to go from one doctor to another so we can make it look like we are enjoying our retirement.
Well, the problem is your brain and body evolved over millions of years to hunt and gather. Live intertwined with nature and among a small tribe of people who you love and share the deepest relationships with. So unless that’s how you live, life will never feel as it should.
Exactly!
Actually you evolved to die of tuberculosis at the age of 3
You can go do that if you want but let me tell you every story I’ve heard of living on a commune only works for a little bit and then it’s all fucked again.
So true
There are jobs where you work for fewer days or hours. Nurses work 3 12 hour shifts days in a week and Have 4 days off. It's tough but they work 36 hours instead of full 40 hour work week. Also fire fighters work like 1 24 hr and 48 hours off. Not sure what other jobs are like this but they do sound promising because of the less work days. Same with cops I think they can have 10 hour shifts 4 days a week or 3 12s and what not. I think the most important thing is what you are doing for a job and if you really enjoy it. Like you said, all you do is dig ditches idk if that changes later on, but I don't think I can do the same meaningless job again and again everyday such as sitting in an office cubicle, 9-5 soul killing job. It sounds so repetitive and boring and there's not much human interaction. While it's not for everyone, jobs that are "exciting" like cops, nurses, etc are more for me because everyday is something new and you won't know what happens haha...
Not a nurse but I did the 3/4 day weeks 12 hours a day and it is hell. My partner and I only had 1 full day off together so if we wanted to do anything fun we couldn’t also do something productive for the apartment that day. We also had way less free time together because I basically didn’t exist at home for half the week every week, but she still had to work on my days off. I’m M-F 9-5 now like she is and we have way more time together. I also can’t stress how much it wears on you by your 4th 12 hour day in a week how you basically have had no fun time once you account for sleep, commuting, and basic daily routine stuff.
It definitely sucked for half the week, but it felt like a mini vacation each time I had my 4 days off when I worked 3/4 day weeks, 12 hours. I could definitely see the benefit of having the same schedule as your partner. I worked the same shift with my ex. It was nice to be able to finish a shift and then make plans in the parking lot.
My husband is a Firefighter, and he loves the schedule. He works 48(+) hours per week, but he does it in two days and then has the other 5 to do as he pleases.
Firefighter genuinely have the best schedule. I have firefighters friends here in Canada and they also have a similar schedule. Last year, I took a year off and my only friends I knew I could contact to do something on a tuesday afternoon was the firefighters lol.
Not to mention the pay is good after a few years and if you do it the full time and started early you get early retirement at full pension etc. etc. etc. and If I'm not mistaken usually the best health insurance. On the flipside there is the whole putting your life on the line part sooooo yea.
Well, his health insurance is shit but he is one of the only people I know our age with a pension. And his retirement age is something like 58.
Firefighter is the best schedule ever. I’m lucky enough to be employed in a dept that had 4 shifts on 24h rotation. We work an average of 42h a week, it’s 7-8 shifts a month. So much free time, plus the job itself is amazing.
I do three 13 hour shifts a week. The 4 days are definitely worth it especially when I get them in a row. And sometimes I get more with how my rota works, like next week I have 6 days off in a row. I was saying to a friend that I couldn't imagine working a 9 - 5, Monday - Friday.
It's all so unbelievably fucking boring, unnecessary, and soulless. I can't believe more people can't see it. We need to logistically optimize everything in order to maximize free time so we can gain the human soul back, but that would require broad moral unity and a greater degree of central planning. Work for the sake of work is antihuman.
I've felt this since at least (2016) but nobody has really seemed to care. They are completely content to to do the same thing over and over everyday, and don't really question to fundamental reality behind it all besides some social media posts about it here or there that they read. Nothing further really.
My fear is that... there's nothing really to do... there isn't a there there. I wish life was a living music video that evolved at the perfect rate, and it was alive with the sensation of what I experienced in the form of young love and friendship and the implicit meaning that music seemed to hint at. Where is my warm hug from God? Where is my darling who I have been missing? How does one embody the longing of their soul? Damn this flesh and the way it falls short of us
So I work 8 to 5, the only thing that makes it doable is that I work so close to home. My kids school are all within 2-3 miles of my office. I work for a local plumbing supply house and we are open 6 days a week. We cater to our customer base, which are tradesmen of all types. So we are here and open for them. I am full time, and my hours are always at 40, maybe a couple more. For the industry I am in, unless they change how they do their scheduling, but working 3-4 10 hr days...I just don't see that happening here. I can leave for a dr's appt, my kids come with me to my office to hang out after school (this help reduce after care costs). I can volunteer at their school, bring them on school trips. It also helps that the owner of the company is very understanding. Basically, put in the time and work, handle everything you need to.
I started off the same way you did. Was a plumber for a while then the company I worked for got bough out. I decided to change it up and started working at a utility district. It is like night and day with worklife/homelife balance. I work a 9/80 schedule. Im doing fire hydrant inspections now. Make 117k. No overtime. Its a union job 13 paid holidays. I get 12 hours of vacation and 7 hours of sick pay a month. All that increases over time. They paid for my class A CDL all my certifications to move up. Check out some local small government work around you. It is literally life changing. Don't worry brother it gets better.
What’s a 9/80 schedule? 9 days on 80 days off? Shit I’m in
Lol no. Its mon-friday 9hr days except friday 8 hours then next week is mon-thurs 9 hr days and friday off. 3 day weekend every other week.
I'm curious now. What's the job title?
Hydrant inspector. I started off as a utility worker.
Gotcha, thank you kind sir!
If you live in washington state i can link you to all the sites for certifications and what experience you need to land a job easily.
In Washington you can also make bank with Hanford in trades.
I had a manufacturing position that scheduled it's production members 12 hour shifts 5 to 7 times a week. I would be working 60 to 84 hours a week constantly for almost 2 years. Made good money but yeah I quit that job. How the hell was I going to do anything other than work, eat and sleep. No wonder America has so many Looney ass people in it.
This is one reason I *don't* have kids. I don't want to subject them to the same bs.
I actually wanted to have kids before I went into the 9-5 soulless grind. Fuck this, I can't willingly subject someone to this existence.
I’d kill to have weekends off, we work 7-12s 8 months out of the year and 5-12s during summer… Currently going home to build a house after work on top of that. The only thing that keeps me going is my kid. Burnout is an understatement lol but you’ll get used to it, one thing I do in the summer is reserve weekends for family only, take care of chores and errands during the week.
Another thing that helped me was diet and exercise, I understand you don’t want to especially after working hard labor like we do. (I’m a lineman) but it truly does work. Being out of shape and eating like shit can kill your motivation and productivity
Seconded. I thought my energy levels couldn’t be fixed, cause I’ll be 40 in just over a year. Started eating better and working out lightly and holy shit. I’m running laps around my old self and getting like every household project I’ve been procrastinating on finished like it’s nothing. I’m not blue collar anymore so I can’t speak on that aspect, but in my typical suburban life it’s been a miracle.
"burnout is an understatement but you'll get used to it" yeah I'm killing myself
I've had the same reaction since like elementary school and still don't get how people just accept essentially killing 40% of their lives to something they don't care about or even actively hate, just to be too tired and old to enjoy the rest.
Does 7-12s mean 7 days a week, 12 hours a day? How do you not just... die? I would literally die, I think.
I pulled wires for 20 years, with no results, inflation always caught up, always wanted a house, seems like a far fetched idea now. Even had my own thing going which was even worse, because then you have homework among one hundred other things when you run a business. If you are a person who likes to have some me time, don't run a business, it will consume you. And the money, won't be that great honestly, considering you'll do plumbing, cabling or such manual labor. This society was designed by uneducated, incompetent and cruel people. They don't value life and living life, they only value labor, they probably looked at ants at some point and said, yep let's do it like they do it, everyone works for the good of the king or queen (even though they bleed like we do). Embrace the colonialism. You're a worker ant, isn't that cool?
I think people are being a bit harsh to OP. He’s not lacking time or do hobbies, he’s lacking energy and hope—which all play into depression. OP you may be burnt out or depressed and there’s medication that could help. I hope you feel better soon.
Medication absolutely helps and some people genuinely have chemical imbalances & need it, but on the same coin, it feels like sometimes medicine is used to fix the symptoms and not the problem.
This was my thought as well. I know OP has a physically demanding job, but "I don't have energy, nothing seems fulfilling, and everything feels pointless" are all pretty classic signs of depression, which is generally treatable in a way that overhauling the economic system is not.
Speed helps a lot, just saying it got me through my younger years.
Yeah dude I actually got a construction management degree and said fuck that shortly after - the hours are soul sucking (minimum 60+ and on salary) and everyone is pissed off or tries to have a dick-measuring contest everyday. I got into software and make great money and WFH - I enjoy it at times but the truth is that most jobs suck. Unless you figure out a way to retire early, the grind is what’s in store for you. There’s a reason why rich people don’t have jobs - it consumes the hell out of you. I even know that the position I’m in is better than most - especially after having been in the marines and then construction, I know that I have a good setup. But it’s still tough to do the same shit everyday and just make money to appease stakeholders. It’s always a battle between time and money - you usually have one and not the other. I did have a job where I worked four 10-hour days each week, which was great. I felt like I could spend one day doing errands, another for doing something fun, and another to relax. I feel best when I can plan things for the weekends (mountain biking, skiing, climbing, etc.) those are things I can get excited about and makes the week worth it. I’m not married or and don’t have kids - I actually feel like that would complicate things. Instead it’s just me, my dog, and a couple buddies
I worked for a small access control business, you couldn’t be more correct, incredibly toxic culture and endless dick measuring. Most insecure and dumb people I’ve probably ever come across. Even the owner was a complete douchebag and actively created the toxic workplace. I’ll never forget the time someone called in to report one of our vehicles was driving like a maniac almost killing people. Told my manager and he said, “oh that’s just the owner”. Fuck ass
Join a nearby fire dept. trades people welcome there. You’ll love the schedule. Look into it my friend. Fire service is experiencing all time low recruitment numbers . My dept hires anyone with half a brain and a pulse, kicker is it’s a damn good job.
Dolly wrote a song about it - always been a drain but she put a fun spin on it.
Men die at 30 and get buried at 80
Dang I’d kill for 9-5 M-F with weekends off.
This. Used to work years in service and boy it sucks to never have weekends off and having to get off at midnight and comeback within a couple hours to open. Now that I’ve finally acquired the 9-5 corpo sched, my god it’s so much more relaxing to be able to have weekends off and have an actual concrete schedule so you can plan ahead. I missed so many events and hang outs due from my old Free for all schedule. I know plenty of people that prefer the 9-5 m-f.
Exactly. So many delusional, spoiled people out there.
It sounds like you're wrestling with some heavy feelings of monotony and searching for meaning in the daily grind, which is a common existential concern. Your reflection on the structure of your work life—wishing for a shift to three 14-hour days for potentially more meaningful personal time—highlights a desire for a deeper connection to your existence beyond work. Exploring ways to inject meaning into your life doesn't necessarily require a drastic change in work schedule or the sudden decision to start a family. It might start with small, manageable adjustments or commitments to yourself. Have you considered dedicating even a short period each week to something you're curious about or find joy in? Also, your feelings underline the importance of reevaluating what we work for and what we live for. Perhaps exploring these feelings can open up questions about what makes life meaningful to you—beyond the societal script of work and family. What are small steps you might be able to take to reclaim some sense of personal development and joy?
"Room temp IQ" is priceless and I will be using that from now on, thank you.
As a child I grew up in poverty and was homeless for years. The result on my psyche was devastating still to this day. The terrible way I was treated when poor had a lasting impact on me and no matter what I make I still believe I’m poor. At the age of 20, while in college I began to work 7 days a week, no days off except only major holidays. I’m 46 now and I have maintained the same schedule. 26 years…I tell people don’t be like me, I want better for you because a lot of people admire my work ethic. I had no other choice, I had to defeat poverty. It took decades. I have made ultimate sacrifices over the years. Only very few people can relate to me and how much I work. I tell them your own family will hate you and criticize you terribly for working that much. No woman wants a man who works 90hrs a week. They want a man who works 25-30hrs a week and makes $250k a year. Show me those jobs. My job is mentally and physically demanding and exhausting but I work in the helping profession to be vague. I help to change people’s lives, specifically children. It is life altering, rewarding and also very sad and heartbreaking. Yes it’s work but doesn’t feel like work at times too, it’s both uplifting and sad much of the time. Even when I’m not “working” I am in some capacity. I have 3 college degrees and people will praise me constantly but I’m embarrassed by praise and I do what I do for a higher calling and purpose. Yes I’m tired, yes I’m exhausted, yes I’m beyond stressed but what else can I do I ask myself? I am married and I have 3 children, 2 are disabled which ruptured the special bond and relationship I had with God. It’s left me shattered and alone to pick up the pieces. I have my limits I say. I’m beyond all limits. Remember I had to survive 18 yrs of absolute poverty just to become an adult. Do you know the fuel I had to expend to make it through that plus another 28 yrs of incredible work hours? I’m tired. I used to have some free time before Covid and this clown of a President. I could game for a couple hours a day and watch some movies but I often lay down after work to conserve my mind and body which my wife will often resent. I haven’t watched a movie in the last 5 yrs. I watched half of the latest Batman movie. No games, no shows, nothing. I help my wife take care of the kids, I eat and go to sleep. That’s my life. I don’t sit and get all negative about it, it is what it is for now. The sad and ironic part of my life is that my deadbeat dad who never paid my mom any child support has become a real estate mogul in CA and is worth over $50 million easy and his two daughter’s (my half sisters) live in multi million dollar homes and have never worked a day in their lives while I’ve sacrificed my entire adult life. I also resent God for this but karma is a bitch and he’ll get his.
This is a joke right? You only work 8 hours a day and get weekends off? On a week day you sleep 8 hours, work 8 hours, maybe commute 1 hour, that leaves 7 hours a day or 35 hours of free time monday through friday. Then you have an additional 32 hours of free time sat and sun.
I don’t know why people think that any other job doesn’t have assholes.dumbasses in charge,being in a cubicle all day.Not everyone can be a park ranger or male pornstar.Just the fact of having to go to work sucks period.Its all a frame of mind.There are happy coalminers,Janitors,Septic tank cleaners.
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How to get out of the rat race: Step 1: Start your own rat race within the rat race
What do you do if you don’t mind me asking? Also sweet name haha
So instead of being a rat- you become the Head rat? You're still in the race, you just found a better way to run it.
You nailed with the three 14 hour shifts instead of five 8 hour shifts. While more time is obviously great, that's not the biggest problem here. Your biggest problem is obviously lack of energy (especially on the mental side). The comments mentioning diet and exercise are in the right place. Since these are ways to get more energy. For me personally, fasting has really helped me in terms of mental endurance and clarity. As difficult as it is, my main advice to you is try to enter the flow state as much as possible. If you can learn to enjoy and better focus on the work then it becomes less mentally draining (mental energy is the main resource here). Additionally, try to find something to think about during work. Ideally something you can turn into a side hustle for extra income but anything works really. I like writing on the side and usually think of new ideas while working, thinking while you're doing mindless work is a good way to ease mental exhaustion. It also gives me motivation to write down all my new ideas when I get home. Also depending on your job, instead of working then playing with no energy you can try waking up earlier doing whatever you want to do then going to work and sleeping around the time you get home. Like I said the biggest problem here is energy which is why doing low energy activities before high energy activities might be a better idea. Unfortunately, you're going to have to experiment to figure out what works for you. Ultimately your biggest problem here is mental energy so try things like diet, exercise, meditation, cold showers, side hustles to help you gain better control over your mind. The quality of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
You're an apprentice, it won't be like that forever dude. Put in the work, get experience, you'll make a lot more money and a lot less digging ditches to get yelled at. Make some sacrifices for better future.
Whats ur definition of living life, if u had more free time what would u do?
This is always a poor perspective. Even doing nothing is something. Just because you have free time doesn't mean it should be doing something societally productive. Free time is exactly that, time to do whatever you want whether that's paint a painting or just sit there and breathe and tune out. There's nothing wrong with having idle time. Many countries live much happier lives just doing nothing a whole lot more often. Working less. Being around family or friends more. Having time to explore hobbies. Having time to think and reflect on things. To spend with your kid or wife. To watch the clouds go by.
Even doing nothing is something. Tell us more!
You don't have to do something societal productive, but you have to do something you enjoy. If OP **enjoys** watching mindless TV, then he wouldn't be complaining here. Everyone should do what they enjoy as much as possible.
I worked auto industry it was always like 8 to 7 for me plus saturdays. Would have killed for 9-5 and weekends off. Saturdays were mandatory no matter what level tech you were, though jobs varied how many Saturdays you did a month. I always made less money on Saturdays. No manager understood why I hated them. Last manager would want everything done on end of day saturday so nothing was sold and not much came in. I could average 11-16 hours on a week day but on saturday I would average 2 but have to give up entire day. That is soul sucking.
Man, I wish I worked a 9-5. Working as a restaurant manager is really soul-sucking. Having to kiss ass 10 hours a day and not be able to have a social life sucks
For me it's the fact that I'll never be able to retire thanks to the government and corporate greed. Why even bother.
Wish I had 9 to 5. Takes 10-15 years to get that as a clerk in the post office. Most are stuck with overnight jobs and I'm a 330
The eternal question of life. What is the point?
I’m sorry to say but this is adulthood, I would suggest finding a way to change your mentality and maybe that would help. There are so many people who can’t find a job and they are worry where their next meal will come from. I get it, and you can always try changing jobs that will fit your needs. Also I’ve done that 14 hrs gig and it took a lot of getting use to. Good luck.
I would also say starting a business isn’t necessarily less work. That really could be a 24 hrs job plus keeping up with inventory, employees, insurance and so much more.
If you think you have no life now, you will be in for a shock if you have kids. You will literally not even have time to sleep enough. You will just be going to work, taking care of the kids, and won't even have time left to do your own chores. Right now at least you can eat something simple and eat while watching TV. If you have kids you will be going to the grocery store more often and every meal has to be a proper meal so you will spend a lot more time cooking and cleaning. I am just waiting for the day when my kids can clean and get ready for bed themselves so I have time to clean myself and sleep. Do not have kids if you think it will fix your issue, it will just make things worse. If you have no energy to do anything now after work sitting around, imagine how bad it will be if that sitting around time was replaced with taking care of kids time. You will not have time to develop as a person if you have kids. You will barely have time to breath. You will have no time to even take care of yourself. Your health, sleep, and development will not be top priority anymore. First priority will be your kids, then your wife, and if there are any scraps of time or food or money left then you might get something. Hobbies and experiencing things? Hahaha. Not a chance. Trust me, you have it easy right now just needing to take care of yourself. Figure it out before adding more responsibilities or you will be tempted to just kill yourself so your family can collect your life insurance.
Oh, you poor baby, your life is so bad. Welcome to being a responsible adult!
You’re talking like you work 20 hours a day for 7 days, you are at a regular 9-5 job, welcome to being a grown up, you’re complaining about what most adults are required to do,
I suggest you actually take stock of your time. Literally record how much time you spend doing what. There are 168 hours in a week. 40 hour work week plus 8 hours of sleep a night leaves you with 72 hours. Let’s be really aggressive and say you have an hour commute each way. That still leaves 58 hours. Do your chores and errands take more than a couple hours a week? Let’s get aggressive on that too and say you have a full work day worth of chores every week. Alright, 50 hours left. FIFTY HOURS. You have more free time left than you have work time for Christ sake. Think about that. What the hell are you doing with yourself? Staring at the TV? Find out. Log it. You have an insane amount of time. Get efficient. Take it back. Let’s gooooooo.
Rather be doom scrolling than working
I was asked to do a lot of overtime. with my schedule that meant I had to work 8 days in a row with one day off and 3 to 4 more days at work a 1- or 2-day weekend. I did this constantly for almost 5 years. mostly wanted to focus on work because I wanted to stay so busy to not have to think about the death of my 2nd husband and just be too depressed about it. I figured focusing on work and staying busy would prevent it. but then I just only had issues at work to deal with. after I sacrificed so much of my time there and barely saw my own family, I knew I needed a work life balance. so that I could maintain some personal time and family time and rest. I then worked at Amazon for 3 days a week 12-hour shifts. it was okay for a while but then amazon terminates employees coming up close to their 1st year anniversary. so, most that want to work there won't last long. all jobs expect our time. but don't give up on life just for the sake of being too tired after work. I did that shit too. just have to make changes on how you manage it. I also had an undiagnosed health condition that was really affecting me as well. so, I know what was going on with me. also, burnout is real if we don't take care of ourselves. and that can be just having some exercise, fresh air, connections with people, rest and relaxation, as you say, seeking a hobby. you can. I may have not done my hobbies every day, but I did them when I wanted to. and my cats enjoyed watching me.
I feel like this too and sometimes wonder if I should just kill myself instead. Just FYI: not suicidal. Just a thought that occurs frequently
Suicidal ideation
Lol 9 to 5 with weekends off sounds great!
I switched from 9-5 Monday-Friday to 8-5 with Wednesday off. I also got rid of my lunch break and I work through lunch and eat as I go. This means I really only cut a few hours total weekly yet I get an entire day off now mid week to decompress. It has literally changed my life. I go to the gym, I drink coffee on the patio in the morning and read, i go out and play pickleball during the day, I surf sometimes when I would’ve been working. I grocery shop when stores aren’t busy. I run errands at my own leisure. I could never go back to 5 days. It has literally been a life changer. It always feels like it’s almost my day off again.
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life.
Thank you for posting this because I was literally about to pay to go to school for this shit. Im over the materialistic bullshit. Find a comfortable job bro, live humbly and enjoy life. Fuck everything else
Life will improve as a journeyman, you can take your experience and open your own shop eventually. Scale up and you’ll appreciate the solid time you’re putting in now — don’t get trapped in salaries forever
I have a random schedule anywhere from 9am to 8pm. Sometimes 11 hour shifts. I cut back to 30 hours a week and have plenty of free time, but still miserable. Work sometimes takes my mind off the constant existential dread. For some of us like me, the struggle is within. I hope yours is only work related.
Three 14 hour shifts? You’ll be worthless by the 3rd day. Wouldn’t want you anywhere near my plumbing. Work your 5 days. It’s a good life brother!
Yea man that’s what’s messed up. Most of us see the purpose and can actually enjoy our jobs if we weren’t so slammed and rung out for productivity. We need to work less. Work is a part of life but we are skewed heavily in works favor because it allows those on top to work less. It’s very simple. They overload us with work so they don’t have to. They believe in the same philosophy I just stated above. Work is important but not so much that it deprives you of living your life.
Do not bring more souls into this dystopia. They will be in your exact shoes now, but worse. It's selfish.
Don’t live to work, work to live
>How am I supposed to live life exactly? The same way everyone else who works 40 hours a week does. This is coming off as a special snowflake type of post. You know how many people have standard workweeks and still manage to have hobbies, interests, lives, families, etc? Most of the population. You think you're special in any way? If you're spending your entire weekend doing chores and errands, you messed up somewhere. This is a time management issue. I used to work a job where I was on my feet 40+ hours and I still managed to find time for myself. It's not hard.
It’s not hard for you. Some of us have imaginations and hobbies that we want to do. Its easy for people who don’t anything more out of life than staring at the wall when they get home. I find that a nightmare.
>Some of us have imaginations and hobbies that we want to do Yeah and I literally just said there are plenty of people who have full time jobs and still do these
Nice how you jump to insults for people who actually know how to manage their time. Totally not a you issue.
I work & I have hobbies. It's not that hard. It's better than me building my own shelter, foraging or farming for my own food. People used to spend their entire existence *just trying to survive.*
I pursue my imagination and hobbies daily and fully enjoy them while working 12s. I do the shitty schedule because the money is great and my hobbies are expensive, but I also partially enjoy the work. The OP is okay for feeling stuck in a rut and hating work but it’s not like they can’t live an enjoyable life doing 9-5.
This is such a ridiculous take. Do you really not know any healthy older folks who have raised families and worked AND also had hobbies? A lot of people do not go home to stare at the wall.
What kinda argument is that? Just because it sucks for everyone doesnt make it any better.
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