Agree with the sibling comment. I've heard that tune (how come your kids don't motivate you, etc) so many times when dealing with crippling depression and anxiety. I have 3 children now and much better mentally, but holy shit did I have my share of trite, flippant advice.

You seem to suggest that my comment was (trite, flippant) depression advice. I'm not entirely sure how you can read my comment as depression advice given that nothing in the thread had anything to do with depression.

It's like

A: Wow I respect people who can lift heavy stuff

B: Oh come on it's just a matter of workout

C: Holy shit I've had my share of trite flippant workout advice but I have myasthenia so workout won't cut it, come on.

(I react a bit strongly because I'd never give depression advice. I have no fucking clue about depression except that well-meant tips from people like me don't help, at best. I stay out of the way and leave depression to trained shrinks and people with experience)

Here's the connection:

A: "Im not sure I'd have the strength to do it myself if I had to" [because I'm depressed / have anxiety issues / am utterly burned out mentally].

B: "You'd have the strength to do that, too, if your (children's) livelihood depended on it. It's really not that hard if the other option is being evicted from your house."

C: You missed the [...] part.

The depression link is in square brackets. Can't say if it applies to 'HiroshiSan, but it applies to some people (to some extent, including myself - I had moments when I was barely hanging by a thread). Some people doubt they'd be able to handle it because they know they lack the psychological strength. And in depression, being threatened ("you have to do it, or else your family starves") may only makes things worse - it might just push someone past their breaking point.

Dont take it too personally. You are right you didnt MENTION depression but a lot of the underlying drivers for the phenomena are just that-- depression and one of the biggest and most painful places is in the arena of parenting. Not clear if you have kids, but divorce, economic hardship and separation create a great deal of pain which can feed things like procastination and rebellion as described in the original post

I was going off on a tangent, your comment merely reminded me of what I was referencing, so I'm sorry to have implied otherwise.

Appreciate that, and I totally understand. Fwiw, sorry for coming at you so hard. All the best to you!

Thats the conventional wisdom. It might work if your kids are in front of you every day crying, but if you are separated from them and have to maintain a mental picture of their need in the same brain, its a disaster.

You think? Some people would just give up. I'm fairly convinced I would. I don't have the mental strength to deal with it.

The thing with menial work is that it doesn't require much mental strength - just get on with it, or, have a boss tell you to get on with it. There's something liberating about it. Which is counter-intuitive because some will associate manual labor with slave labor, communist propaganda, lower-class stuff, unworthy work for unworthy people, that kinda thing - but it really isn't.