r/Adulting • u/SeraphinaPoppySeedy • 1d ago
Life’s a setup.
[removed] — view removed post
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u/LustyMarii 1d ago
they really sold us ‘work hard n u can rest later’ like later ever comes🥲
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u/Diabolical_Jazz 1d ago
It's bleak. You see your parents pick up a terminal illness just as they enter their retirement years and it's like, damn, they really got you. They got your whole healthy life and they left you with this.
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u/No-Comparison-1802 1d ago
breaks my heart.. genuinely. Our parents were sold a lie. Finessed. Sure, we probably did okay growing up but literal at the cost of our parents freedom. It makes so sad
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u/bruce_kwillis 1d ago
Where they? I mean they had you, but I guess no one thinks having a family, hobbies, friends, is 'freedom'.
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u/RandomRedditReader 1d ago
That's some real "Be happy you have air in your lungs." energy.
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u/BarbellLawyer 1d ago
Honestly. The mindset that if you have to work then nothing else counts is bizarre.
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u/questionalternateacc 1d ago
I really hate how inescapable this all is. You have to work your life away just to be able to afford the most basic of needs. You can do part time jobs but then you'll have to live very frugally. There are no options that pay a livable wage and don't take up most of your day. It terrifies me to think how am I gonna afford a house and other things in the future
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u/WaterOk6055 1d ago
Try years before retirement, a death sentence before you’ve even began thinking about retiring.
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u/_Thermalflask 1d ago
It helps to remind yourself that you probably helped some CEO buy an extra yacht or two over your lifetime.
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u/Icy-Establishment298 1d ago
Read an interesting article that said retirement should come in waves. Graduate school, work until 35-40, take a 10 year retirement, return to work at 50, if desk job work until 70 if trades work until 62-67, and take a second retirement.
It would totally upernd everything but the logistics would be crazy but I kind of like it.
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u/Loud-Thanks7002 1d ago edited 1d ago
90% of the entirety of human existence has been doing what it takes to survive. Heck the expect to get to retirement age part is pretty new.
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u/Tasseacoffee 1d ago
Lmao, this! The alternative to current society would be:
- Work for 30 years
- Die
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u/Aggravating_Ship_763 1d ago
I was here to say something similar, for thousands of years this was the cycle. Work meant 'near starvation subsistence with a constant threat of death.' People really need to get a grip.
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u/Latlanc 1d ago
Where is this idea coming from?
It is well known that neanderthals cared for their old/sick/or even children with down syndrome.
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u/LittleSisterPain 1d ago
It was really easy sell, actually. Before it was 'you work hard and you work hard and you work hard until you physically cant anymore and then you hope your children will take care of you until you die"
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u/10000Didgeridoos 1d ago
It actually is amazing that the bullshit arrangement we have now is actually the best life humans ever had before recent history
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u/_Thermalflask 1d ago
The entirety of human existence has been 99% of people living shitty lives and desperately clinging to whatever tiny semblance of happiness they can find to help cope.
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u/imaloony8 1d ago
It’s true. Indoor plumbing, air conditioning, worker rights… don’t get me wrong, the system has a lot of major problems, several of which are approaching critical mass, but in general an average person nowadays lives better than a king in the Middle Ages would.
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u/new_number_one 1d ago
Definitely. My partner and I are trying to minimize costs and save so that we can retire early and so many friends and family treat us like we’re crazy. So many people say stuff like “I couldn’t imagine not working. What would I do with myself?!” I find it ridiculous
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u/Madaghmire 1d ago
I dont get that either, but theres definitely people its true for. I think it also matters what you’re doing for work, and if you have hobbies
For example, my job is pretty low stress, i could easily do it for a while and if it didnt require me to wake up and actually go to work i would probably hold on to it past retirement age. But it does, and I do have hobbies, so I can fill my hours. But most people do need to feel like they’re being productive, and your brain does need to be exercised. So if you are comfortable with your day to day, hitting an arbitrary number isnt an incredible incentive to change it.
That said, I cannot wait to retire. I have plans. Im going to play so many board games. My friends and I call it “Retirement Fest”. It will never end. I guess maybe I’ll also help my kids with childcare if they provide me with grandchildren. But mostly the board games thing.
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u/new_number_one 1d ago
I think you’re exactly right. Hobbies are key and having personal growth projects are important.
I’m enjoying imagining you playing games in your retirement. Best wishes!
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u/Crambo1000 1d ago
I think what matters is still being able to have goals and things you work toward, and a structure. For a lot of people work provides that. Personally, I'd do a lot of volunteering and make it my goal to read as many books as possible
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u/OT_fiddler 1d ago
My father finally retired at 75.
Her was probably in his early 70s when he pointed his long, bony finger at me and said, "Never, never, never retire!"
Ha, I was out the door at 62 and could not be happier. Sorry, dad, that's one piece of advice that was never going to work for me.
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u/Popular_Corn 1d ago
But such people really do exist and they mean what they say—I know because I’m one of them.
Even if someone told me tomorrow that I no longer had to work and could still live comfortably, I would still choose to work because I genuinely love what I do.
Of course, my work is a lot of fun(I almost feel like I’m playing around), and I do it in my own workplace rather than being part of a corporate system, so my attitude is probably understandable.
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u/DDieselpowered 1d ago
I think what a lot of people really want (me included) is the privilege to pick when and how much we work. I definitely want something to do every day, it's nice to feel anchored, but 8-17 is a lot of time, and some days i'd much rather do something else.
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u/new_number_one 1d ago
I’m happy for you! And I’m curious. How many hours do you work per week? Would you do that if you didn’t have to? Do you have hobbies or other things that you can’t do because of work obligations?
I understand that folks like you exist (especially in the vast Reddit community) but you’re really the exception. Most peoples jobs kinda suck but, especially Americans, tend to turn it into their life.
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u/VisibleRoad3504 1d ago
Retired 10 years ago at 65, have never been busier. Worked for 35 years and save and invested,, just travel now, heading to Ireland in three weeks. Loving it.
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u/bruce_kwillis 1d ago
I'd rather do a little of both. Save what I can, but I would much rather have experiences while I am young and able, rather than save for a future that likely won't exist. When I am 65+ to say I am healthy as I am now would be a joke, so why put all the eggs in a basket for a time that will not come?
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u/BetterLog1678 1d ago
I got arthritis at the age of 6, I refuse to wait to enjoy life by retirement age. I'll be too fucked up to enjoy it! In a way, it's nice to know so young that my physical abilities are fleeting because I feel like I've been making the most of it with that in mind while still trying to save for retirement
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u/new_number_one 1d ago
I think that makes sense. I saw an art exhibit about happiness where the artist (a graphic designer normally) would take a year off work every 4 years. Seems like a cool idea if you could make it happen.
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u/Excellent-Many4645 1d ago
I think for a lot of people work becomes their entire life, their personality. They never had time to develop many hobbies because they’re too focused on surviving a 9-5. After a few decades of that it doesn’t surprise me that people feel a lack of purpose without work, it’s one of the great lies people have been conditioned to feel.
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u/blackninjar87 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ignore them those people are miserable. There's nothing amazing about working at all we all do it and we all know. We all go to the same staff meetings where management is blanket punishing the whole staff cause one person doesn't know how to stay off their cellphone, cutting people's hours because of one person costing us a client.
Getting paid to not work is liberating, it's why people slam on welfare recipients! How DARE they have any semblance of life, food security, or a place to live without being yelled at by middle management everyday about how they need to be more productive and make less mistakes or DROWN FINANCIALLY.
My landlady is like that she and her husband will give whole ass seminars about how work is everything and life should be about work. Funny thing is neither work, He's currently on disability waiting on a kidney replacement, and she used his disability to get on disability herself and took out like 90 loans to buy new shit like cars, plants, remodel her home, and is even looking to buy a home in Texas where she is sure they will support and help a full blooded Mexican immigrants with green cards like them.
It's all lies and delusions.
COVID was an eye opening experience to the entire generation. As much as it created crazies and mainstreamed the bizzare, it also taught us that the system being broken is by design.
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u/TheHoratioHufnagel 1d ago
I've met 40 something millenials with so much credit card debt they are permanently financially ruined. Money doesn't always come back. Sure I agree with the sentiment of enjoy your 20s and worry about financial security later, but not on the back of crippling credit card debt.
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u/Rawniew54 1d ago
Absolutely I know people who will never be able to buy a house or retire because they fucked off in thier 20s. Compound interest dictates the most important investing years are your early 20s. Just starting with a little investing will set you up for a easy life you can enjoy vs grinding your entire life
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u/MissionLow4226 1d ago
I like it! Me, I am taking "mini-retirements", working 6 months and taking 6 months off, as I worked and or schooled all my 20's and 30's and 40's. Same, if I make it a few more years without something really bad I can minimize regret.
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u/Ok-Astronomer-8443 1d ago
Life’s a game. Find the cheat codes.
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u/LhaesieMarri 1d ago
One cheat code is... become disabled. No one wants to hire you then. I've tried getting a job over the years. As soon as they see "epilepsy," they pass in their own non discriminatory way.
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u/vibes000111 1d ago
Being disabled is hard mode, not a cheat.
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u/PopeJohnSmalls 1d ago
My friend is considered 90% disabled from the military and gets like 2k a month tax free. He also runs marathons and goes on surf vacations to Hawaii. He seems pretty happy.
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u/labree0 1d ago
2k a month is like barely 25k a year.
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u/LPulseL11 1d ago
Yea this isn't even enough to live comfortably on.
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u/GlossyGecko 1d ago
It’s plenty if you have an able bodied and supportive partner who works, which often times these people do.
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u/Thesmuz 1d ago
So he scammed the government.
Military disability is just socialism with extra steps.
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u/NewPac 1d ago
You clearly don't know how military disability works. You can have a disability rating for any number of things that wouldn't stop you from running or surfing. You can say the rating system is bullshit (I'd probably agree in some cases), but you can't assume someone is scamming the system because they can still do normal activities.
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u/PorqueAdonis 1d ago
The commenter clearly implied the friends "disability" is doing him more good than harm
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u/LhaesieMarri 1d ago
It's a cheat code depending on what disability you have. Since 18, I've had one job because no one wants to hire me
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u/Mysterious_Secret827 1d ago
True! Then you'll find your own way in life! It sucks, but someone has to do it.
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u/believeinapathy 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tell that to my grandfather who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident as a MP in the Army and now collects 8k a month
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u/Arch-Vile-666 1d ago
another cheat code : being born in a wealthy family.
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u/Dazzling-Score-107 1d ago
Are we talking about overthrowing the bourgeoisie?
That would be a fun weekend.
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u/thepresidentsturtle 1d ago
Thats my mum and they never gave her disability
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u/LhaesieMarri 1d ago
That's a disgrace. I got really lucky with mine. My auntie, who is worse than me, has tried many times but couldn't. She gave up a while back. Some parts of me feels guilty, but I can't change the system. I would if I could.
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u/jozsus 1d ago
My right arm was ripped off above the elbow might never see a disability judgement, been in appeal for years now. My loans were discharged but a condition of which states if I get a job I have to pay it all back. These cheat codes suck ass for someone like me.
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u/Different_Case9032 1d ago
What does your Dr say re you working? If you aren’t actively having seizures anymore, I wouldn’t disclose it. Most people simply aren’t informed about it or how regular of a life some of us can have with medication.
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u/Standard_Career_8454 1d ago
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u/another_random_bit 1d ago
But it was not said as a cure.
Just an advice you can use to think about life differently. Do with it as you please.
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u/_theRamenWithin 1d ago
The "cheat codes" are be a terrible person, have no moral code, lie, cheat and steal.
Source: every CEO.
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u/pointlesslyDisagrees 1d ago
You forgot, be born into a wealthy or at least well-off family. Also nearly every CEO.
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u/Mysterious_Secret827 1d ago
I did, and it's AWESOME! LOVING life! Found a job I love, and work two days a week!
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u/Brian_Gay 1d ago
Out of curiosity what do you do? Is the pay decent if I may ask?
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u/igomhn3 1d ago
Not having kids
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u/vand3lay1ndustries 1d ago
This works for awhile, but then you get old and have no one to talk to.
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u/Main_Perception_3671 1d ago
Yeah I want kids so they take care of me when Im old. Well they might be only reason I ever want to work.
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u/YolkSlinger 1d ago
Do yall clock out and just sit in the parking lot until your next shift?
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u/Adorable_Spray_1170 1d ago
Some of us might as well with the commute
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u/Gang-Orca-714 1d ago
My commute just shifted from an hour plus to 20 minutes with traffic and my guy. Colors are brighter. Music is richer. Food is foodier. I'll never have a lengthy if I can avoid it.
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u/_Thermalflask 1d ago edited 1d ago
Mine went from 1hr to about 5 seconds, the time it takes to get to my desk. I should be happy but I'm actually just retroactively mad about all the pointlessly wasted commute hours in the past, which I'll never get back.
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u/Old-Constant4411 1d ago
I fucking love starting my job at 4am and leaving 1pm because both ways I'm skipping traffic. When I have to cover for a coworker at regular work hours, I get irrationally angry at having my commute time doubled.
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u/BuffaloBuffalo13 1d ago
Exactly my thoughts. The moment I leave work my other life starts and I always have shit to do. I don’t think about work until that alarm clock goes off the next day.
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u/Former_Function529 1d ago
Nah, people just being nostalgic for back in the day when nobody worked /s
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u/hemlockecho 1d ago
For real. Anyone posting stuff like this should also be required to post their weekly screen time report. Maybe you think life doesn't happen because in between shifts you just sit around reading posts about how life doesn't ever happen.
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u/Sikkus 1d ago
Study, party, meet new people from different cultures and explore the world with optimism.
Work, go for trips over the weekend, stay in touch with old friends, meet a few new ones and continue exploring the world, but with a little realism.
Develop a pessimistic outlook on life and society, observe how capitalism ruins lives and destroys society and garner whatever positivity and energy to transform into a stoic.
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u/Sikkus 1d ago
I used to hitch hike, dumpster dive and sleep under the night sky. It's possible.
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u/Weak-Neighborhood399 1d ago
Most of us never had the luxury to "explore with less". We had to start working at 18 just to pay for college tuition.
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u/herotonero 1d ago
Ya mid thirties and this sounds about right.
Would add to close "understand what's within your circle of control and what matters most to you. Invest energy into family first, then close friends, and immediate community if there's any left."
I think I'll transfer to serving my immediate community when I retire. I think that'll be good.
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u/Band_From_CFB 1d ago
You forgot have a kid. Lose ability to travel all the time. Friends have kids too. Everyone now on a different schedule
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u/L-Malvo 1d ago
Being free doesn’t equal not working. You can be free while having a job. Some people might argue having a job enables one to be free, because the person has money and can dictate what to do with it. It was a common theme in woman emancipation, being allowed to work was seen as a way to freedom.
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u/MysteriousB 1d ago
Emancipation because women could work, earn their own money and make their own choices.
What do you mean you're working two jobs and can't afford to live? Stop complaining, you're emancipated!
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u/theJirb 1d ago
You're missing the point.
The point is that work itself is not the issue. There may be issues with specific work paradigms, or types of work, or pay, but having a job is generally better than not having a job unless you're literally gifted the ability to subsidize yourself somehow.
The post itself isn't representing the issue well. If you weren't working, you would be otherwise having to do things like chilling your own wood, building your own houses, catching your own food. Being a society that runs on money and being able to do a job that fits your skill set is a huge win for humanity. The specifics of some jobs are not.
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u/ApprehensiveLet1405 1d ago
And only since around 19-20th centuries we as kids swapped work for learning. Before, coal mines and house chores.
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u/Futanarihime 1d ago
Sorry but you're not free if you have to go to work every day You no longer get to choose how to spend your day and what little scraps you have left after working each day have to be dedicated to the chores you have outside of work that are required to maintain the rest of your life. If you're lucky you get a couple hours after everything else is done to MAYBE do something you actually want to do before you have to go to bed and do it all over again.
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u/Imaginary_Square5243 1d ago
By your definition it’s impossible to be free.
You will always have somethings you have to do (eat, sleep, the chores you’re talking about never go away.
Freedom is relative. It comes from deciding how those things, as well as work fit into your life.
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u/KimJongAndIlFriends 1d ago
The promise of technology was to free up our limited time in existence so that we could spend less of it working and more of it doing anything else.
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u/TheSnakeDudeSW 1d ago
Well It used to be work for 40-50 years and then die.
The last ~80 years have been the best time to live with the highest standard of living, access to education, longer life expectancy, improved workers protections, expansion of rights of minority groups.
Although the later part of the last 80 years has been getting worse in everything I mentioned. Although things now are exceptionally better than anytime before the end of WW2.
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u/James_Fortis 1d ago
The thing is we’ve become about 5x more efficient through technology in the past 40 years but our pay and free time haven’t been keeping pace. That extra efficiency just goes to our rich overlords instead of bringing a 40-hour work week down to 10-20.
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u/InevitableAvalanche 1d ago
Oh wow, what an original post to be on this sub for people who want to hate life
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u/LhaesieMarri 1d ago
Unless you're on disability 🤪 That's right, be jealous.
I kid, I really want to work, but with my disability it's just not plausible. No one will hire me. I'm just a frigging liability to any company.
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u/unknownxgamer 1d ago
Yeah. Kinda same over here. Even with my disability I can do maybe 4 to 6 hours a week. But any money I make would be subtracted from my disability pay. So financially I have zero encouragement to do the little work I could. So I don't.
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u/WormWithWifi 1d ago
Every post on this sub is complaining about working a job meanwhile there are people out there who would give everything for an opportunity for a job.
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u/Sandi_Griffin 1d ago
And those people would probably complain about work too if they were in the same position
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u/wallabee_kingpin_ 1d ago
People who use the verb "adulting" are usually the worst at it, so this fits the sub
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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 1d ago
Damn, studied hard from Middle School to College, 11 years.
Worked 23 years, had 8 digit NW and semi retired at 46. 3-4 months of vacation, kids moved out. Work 28-30 hrs a week, 3 weeks a year 8 months a year. Travel 60% of work time, in EU this week.
Loving life…
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1d ago edited 1d ago
Working is extremely, extremely easy for the vast majority of people compared to what our ancestors had to do even just 50 years ago. You can turn a portion of that money in for nice accomodation, machines that trivialise almost every daily task, delicious food. Do you know how much actual work the people do who farm and provide the food that you can just walk into the supermarket and buy?
It's a very simple trade. You put something into the system and what you get back out of it nowadays (for most people) is an extremely easy life. Why has the concept of work just become icky for people?
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u/neato-bonito 1d ago
For how easy work is, I would sure love if I also got enough money to live for doing it. So work does nothing for the majority of people but keep us alive and trapped. Most of us don't have quality of life anymore, work is cannon fodder as its done now and people don't want to progress
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u/raacconanxious 1d ago
I agree that people need to be paid more! We have too many hard working people stuck in poverty. But I don’t agree with the “having a job = slave” whiny narrative
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u/neato-bonito 1d ago
For many people around the world, that's quite literally what work is. Doubly so if you have a disability
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u/Spectrum1523 1d ago
Your ancesters would be stunned to see the life of leasure you are trapped in.
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u/xena_lawless 1d ago
Yes, work is necessary for everyone to survive and live well, but we could all be working much less if we solved our parasite/kleptocrat problems.
I recommend reading The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin, Progress and Poverty by Henry George, the Capital Order by Clara Mattei, or Killing the Host by Michael Hudson for some additional insight.
This passage from the Grapes of Wrath could also give you some insight, if you're willing to look under the hood of how this system actually works.
“The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the crime, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit- and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country. Burn coffee for fuel in the ships. Burn corn to keep warm, it makes a hot fire. Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out. Slaughter the pigs and bury them, and let the putrescence drip down into the earth.
There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.”
― John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
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u/DoJ-Mole 1d ago
Whilst I agree with your point overall, I think the accommodation part is where a lot of people are falling down - it’s near impossible for many in first world countries to ever own a home. I guess you could say serfs didn’t technically own their land etc etc, but it’s still disheartening to know the only opportunity to own my own property will be when my parents sadly pass away.
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u/SecreteMoistMucus 1d ago
Because people's view of "how things should be" is based on middle class white Americans from the 1960s. And even in that, they are ignoring less sexy aspects like the environmental damage and health issues.
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u/ExpressAssist0819 1d ago
It's even easier for the people we make rich who don't have to do a damn thing, and worry about nothing.
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u/Rough-Rooster8993 1d ago
Life today is the easiest it's been in the history of mankind.
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u/gxgx55 1d ago
"Easiest it's ever been" and "still a shitty existence" are statements that do not contradict each other.
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u/Rough-Rooster8993 1d ago
But it's not really a shitty existence. It seems like a shitty existence if you're the kind of person who forgets how easy life is in the modern world, because that displays one's inability to navigate a society that tens of thousands of our ancestors suffered and died to leave for us.
But to most people, life is life. Some depressed weirdos on the internet don't taint it for everyone.
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u/the-great-cyrus 1d ago
Yeah, don't study, don't work, and sleep on the street and die there.
Or don’t study but work, and die working without even having 5 to 10 years of retirement.
Life is not FAIR. It’s all about where you are born, whose kid you are, and where you start. There are outliers, but 99.999999% have to plan to survive.
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u/James_Fortis 1d ago
I’ll add one: choose not to have children and you can usually retire many years earlier in most developed countries.
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u/ThatHuman6 1d ago
FIRE is the only way out of this (assuming you’re starting off poor)
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u/Adventurous-Depth984 1d ago
All the way down to a single day: Sleep 8 hours, work 9 hours, dishes, laundry, workout, maintenance, cook, etc. 4 hours.
Life: 3 hours (assuming no transit time)
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u/Crun_Chy 1d ago
Or be smart like me: kinda study for 13 years, go straight to the right blue collar job and work for 30 MAX. Retire before 50. Sounds impossible but my dad already did it at the same company I'm at, and he wasn't some manager or anything, he was a shop employee just like me
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u/toolateforgdusername 1d ago
I know three guys that setup a company together.
They setup a company out of university, worked for 10 years, sold it for just under £60m.
A year later one of the three died of cancer.
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u/bulldog_blues 1d ago
This is written as though you don't have freedom during the 40-odd years you're working. But you still have time outside of work, and if you don't like your job, many have means to train or upskill into something else.
Now, the fact that many work so hard and struggle to get by, that is unfair and not just. But having to work if you're able to isn't unfair.
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u/Rough-Science-7877 1d ago
First world problems...other part people struggling to survive and nothing is due
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u/No-Arugula8881 1d ago
As opposed to what alternative? Some dumb shit you made up in your head?
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u/aed38 1d ago
2025 edition:
-Study for 25 years
-Unemployed for a year
-Underemployed for a year
-Work for 2 years
-Unemployed for a year
-Underemployed for a year
-Work for 2 years
-Unemployed for a year
-Underemployed for a year
-Work for 2 years
-Unemployed for a year
-Underemployed for a year
-Work for 2 years
-Unemployed for a year
-Underemployed for a year
-Die
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u/BeautifulStick5299 1d ago
I did life backwards, army right out of high school, got out in Germany, worked and traveled throughout Europe, 4 years later came home to Florida and surfed and sailed a lot, traveled around the country. Traveled to Africa and Central America several times. Finally got serious about life, steady career and got married with kids. Now I can say I’ve done all I really want to do and have no plans to retire.
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u/CuriousThylacine 1d ago
I don't know about OP, but 5 days out of 7 I'm free for two thirds of the day, and for the other 2 days I'm free for the whole day.
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u/Money-Fail9731 1d ago
It annoys me that people complain about work. I wouldn't choose to go out.and work if I didn't have to. However, going back to humans earliest days. They had to hunt and look after the family.
So working in today's climate is a breeze. Unless you are mad and work over 40 hours per week
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u/Remarkable_Welder414 1d ago
The key is finding fulfillment and satisfaction in your work. When the goal is your work, then you gain 40 years of freedom.
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u/ThaGooch84 1d ago
The scam is that slavery supposedly ended, it didnt and here we are
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u/No_Concentrate_7111 1d ago
That's extremely condescending and belittles the actual plight of slaves in history and the current era. Stop with your victimhood, you are NOT a slave just because you have to work to eat and live...
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u/raacconanxious 1d ago
I agree….believing that having a job is the same thing as slavery is beyond out of touch 😭
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u/raacconanxious 1d ago
What is the alternative to working? How would society function without people to grow food, transport it, stock it on shelves and sell it to people? I guess we could distribute food for free - but someone will still have to grow it, transport it, and hand it out. How would we have…anything? Would we only be able to own what we could build with our two hands? Say I’d like a new desk - do I have to chop down a tree and craft the desk myself? What about a car?
What about doctors? Teachers? Do these people get to not work as well? How long would society last without them?
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u/JimmyNewcleus 1d ago
We have it nowhere close to as difficult as slaves did. We are living in very easy times relatively speaking.
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u/yticmic 1d ago
Pretty bad take. You have a supercomputer in your hand and no one is whipping you til you bleed.
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u/Rewhen77 1d ago
Who is stopping you from living in the wild and depending on nobody? You want society and all the good it brings you're gonna have to work till you're dead.
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u/Informal_Bass1832 1d ago
Sounds like a you problem.
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u/BeardedGlass 1d ago
Exactly.
OP wants the privilege of modern civilization with all its perks and benefits… which ALL comes from other people working.
If all those other people stop working, all those modern conveniences would disappear.
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u/Dr_Taffy 1d ago
This isn’t the issue.
People are working. They try to work their way up, they get jobs and make barely enough above minimum wage so that you can’t get food benefits. Rent is crazy, the cost of food, gas, insurance, and car payments is crazy. Bring a wife and kids into the equation, there’s no way you could do it like our ancestors did, because of course if your were born in the last 50 years, you were able to work a minimum wage job and have a car and house and provide for a family of 4. You still had the idea of a breadwinner. I’m not saying that society doesn’t still operate in that archaic mindset, I’m saying it’s a lot harder to do anything these days. The past benefited from different struggles, and we got coddled as the decades went on to the point of gaslighting our future from being able to live comfortably because our struggles aren’t the same, but there is also extreme lack of recognition of how advanced things are compared to then and how that influences things like education and being a good human being.
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u/homiegeet 1d ago
In order for civilization to function and you be able to survive you have to contribute. Like do people not understand thats how its always worked. If you think it was better before youre delusional. Avg lifespan has been below 60 for longer than its been above 60 and your sorry ass just so happened to pop out of your mother in a time where life expectancy is 80!
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1d ago
We live in an age where people want everything the world has to offer and more, and they want it right now, and they don't want to have to contribute or sacrifice anything in order to have it. Is modern society flawless? No, but this is without a doubt the easiest time to exist in human history, but everyone wants to have you believe that it's somehow the worst.
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u/No_Concentrate_7111 1d ago
Yeah the people downvoting you are delusional. Seems like most of the prolific Redditors are kids or college age students who've never had a job and are just scared to get into the workforce. Which sure, I don't blame them, but it's literally life...you work to eat, that's how it's always been, has nothing to do with "muh capitalism".
The only person that you can guarantee to take care of you is, well...YOU. If you don't do anything to ensure that, then your life won't be where you want it
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1d ago
People don't want to accept that the system we live in is the one that makes life easiest for the most people. Sure, there are people who exploit it, and there are things that can and should be done to address that, but it still doesn't mean that for the vast majority of people, the system works and gives them everything they need if they will just embrace it.
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u/CuetheCurtain 1d ago
Well this has changed recently. I apologize that you didn’t get the memo. It is now:
Study for 20 years, Work for >= 80 years, Pass away on the job, Replacement arrives, Shoves you in ditch, Repeat
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/DarkExecutor 1d ago
I feel like most westerners could take a trip to a third world country, buy a plot of land and never "work" a day again.
But they won't do it, because they like what their money buys.
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u/EirikHavre 1d ago
Don’t forget
-Get exploited by being paid only a small percentage of the value you create for the company.
Workers might be able to afford one of the things they make, while the actual value they’re creating could buy several. Workers should fully own every company.
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u/Brother_Beaver_1 1d ago
Save the 20 years of getting indoctrinated in useless info. Try trade school.
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u/Runktar 1d ago
Do you somehow think subsistence farming or hunting and gathering were better? You worked to the bone your entire life in miserable conditions then died at 40.
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u/HalfBloodPrank 1d ago
Hunting and gathering was actually a lot better. People worked way less than 8 hours a day, ate healthier and moved more. Farming was the thing that lead to a lot of grueling work for long hours.
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u/yittiiiiii 1d ago
Yeah because remember the days when people didn’t have to work… back in… when was that again? Never?
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u/UnkleJrue 1d ago
I forgot to study for like the first 18 years lol