Why Americans Care About Work So Much

Re:Why Americans Care About Work So Much by jongjong on Saturday April 01, 2023 @02:07AM (#35397592)

Regardless of how people feel about work, no government agency should ever aim for job creation as a goal. The irony of modern life is that it's often people who don't need to work who enjoy work the most... The game is fun to them mostly because it's rigged in their favor. On the other side, when the game is rigged against you, it's hard to think of anything worse. If I could get the same salary as I do now to literally stare at a wall and watch paint dry, I would do it and I'm not even joking. At least that would free up my my mind to wander, plan, reflect - Something which I'm desperate to do more of but don't have the time; can't afford it.

I'm 100% sure that I hate working in the current economy because the best time in my life was when I didn't have to work for 2 years, even though I was earning very little (just enough for basic needs). There's nothing better than having nothing to do and being able to choose what to do. Watching paint dry is second place, working is the worst.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why Americans Care About Work So Much by s1mplicissimus on Saturday April 01, 2023 @02:10AM (#35397607)

sounds like you need a timeout. i know that feeling from burnout. not a doctor etc.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why Americans Care About Work So Much by jongjong on Saturday April 01, 2023 @09:31PM (#35406155)

I was very optimistic in the first 5 years of my career, but for the last 7 years, whenever I started anything, I've had a feeling deep down that it wasn't going to work out financially. I still pushed through and produced some high quality projects but almost nobody uses them. My projects just cannot get any attention, no matter how good they are and how much positive feedback I get from those few people who do try them. Some of them do the exact same thing as some existing, proven multi-million dollar projects, yet I cannot even get a tiny sliver of their market share. I'm at a point where I'm paralyzed and afraid to start anything, afraid to even try to raise funding (I've been rejected hundreds of times). I know I will be rejected as soon as I start applying for funding; I feel that these funding application forms are designed intentionally to waste my time (and the time of people like me) and that there is 0 chance I will get funding no matter what I put there. The feeling is visceral. It's not about the projects, it's all about me. The elite don't want me to succeed.

I feel like if someone else who is elite-approved had launched my projects and did everything exactly as I did, they would have been wildly successful just because they're not me.

I'm now behaving similarly as these people who just procrastinate, complain and never try anything except in my case, I have so many failed multi-year projects under my belt. I look at any successful person with suspicion. They must have special connections; they must be elite-approved.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why Americans Care About Work So Much by fnordpiglet on Saturday April 01, 2023 @03:50AM (#35398181)

Job creation isn’t the same as forcing you to work. That’s lack of public health care

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why Americans Care About Work So Much by lunatesi on Saturday April 01, 2023 @10:48AM (#35400717)

> If I could get the same salary as I do now to literally stare at a wall and watch paint dry, I would do it and I'm not even joking.

Same. I would do it even if it came with a pay cut. It might be burnout for me, it might be a job that doesn't fit anymore (or, hell, maybe the whole career), I don't know — but I know I just had 2 weeks of vacation and am absolutely dreading Monday.

[ Parent | on HN ]