Why do we even bother?

[The Deco]

Why do we even bother working hard for money and eventually gaining nothing? We will die in the end so what is the purpose of working hard.

As much as I hate being lazy, when I think about it, most of our lives we waste studying or working. from the age of 6 we are gradually starting to bust our asses off, and for what? to bust our asses again in college? for a 3 hour commute every day to get to our job? to work from 8 am to 8 pm? to have only 2 days from a full week to ourselves, friends and family? to retire at the age of 65 after we are old, numb and useless?

If we will calculate it, excluding sleeping hours, most of our time is spent working and serving other people and companies rather than ourselves or our loved ones, And I find it hard that gaining pleasure from your dream job is possible after doing it for 10 years.

I seriously think, no matter what ill do, prime minister, doctor or even a garbageman - I will feel like I gained nothing, like everyone else.

On the other hand, what are our options? Going back to the hunter-gatherer way of living? Build a hut with your family on some remote island and take care of yourselves - medicine, food, shelter, security?

Personally, I think we should balance ourselves - I find it insane to work for 10-12 hours a day. I think it is fair enough to work 7 hours a day.


I don't know what to think anymore. I am looking for someone to slap me in the face and tell me that this is much better than any other option we have, so I could finally be at peace with this way of life I feel, at the moment, forced to comply to.


This is a mature forum, I expect an intelligent discussion.

What are our options?

 

[Z Power]

Thats the way life is Deco. One of the best things one can do, is work hard to achieve as much upward social mobility as possible, not for yourself, but for your future generations. The more money and prestige you end up collecting now, the easier and hopefully better time your children will have in their runthrough.

As for yourself, working more than 8 hours is overkill. So far as options go, people normally gain job prestige whenever they move from one job to another technically better one on their own accord. So if you have worked at one place for quite a while, lets say two years or so on an average, you are more likely to get selected for a better job (better pay/time management/benefits etc) when you apply for it, since the first thing they look for is experience.

Life is a constant struggle, that much is true. The only time one can have enough time and money to do whatever one wants is when one is born rich or wins some sort of lottery. That is not possible for most of us. So we do the next best thing, use whatever braniac tactics we can and earn the maximum income possible. If you are able to do well early on, you will have more time for yourself and your family sooner in your life.

Also, ask for advice from someone who has already gone through the same song and dance before. They can help.

 

[Tenzo]

My advice: Try finding something that you enjoy doing (jobwise, not doing it for the money). You'll probably feel better.

 

[Z Power]

My advice: Try finding something that you enjoy doing (jobwise, not doing it for the money). You'll probably feel better.

It will become hard to feel better when you don't have enough money to pay your bills. A balance between a job one likes and pays well is needed.

 

[Henry]

Or how the old turtle used to say: "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift, and that is why it's called the present"
Be happy for how/who you are right now, don't worry about the future, just do as Tenzu say too, find someone you love (and not only jobwise ^_^).

Or you can always follow this logic...

 

[Zeonix]

Thats the way life is Deco. One of the best things one can do, is work hard to achieve as much upward social mobility as possible, not for yourself, but for your future generations. The more money and prestige you end up collecting now, the easier and hopefully better time your children will have in their runthrough.

And this mentality is precisely why nothing will ever change. Cue Dalai Lama:

“Man…. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Everyone says find a job that you love doing, and everything will be alright. I think this is kind of inane because it doesn't really change anything. You're still working your entire life and for what? In the end, absolutely nothing. Unfortunately, money is the key to freedom in our society. The way I see it, you have two choices. You can find a job you hate that'll make you a ton of money, ultimately giving you the financial security you desire for a certain degree of freedom. Don't learn to love money, because it's just a tool. It's a means to an end. Chances are, you'll end up devoting more time than you'd like towards making your small fortune, but the juice is worth the squeeze in the end. Maybe. These kinds of jobs tend to consume you.

Or, you could go the other route. You can find a job that doesn't pay spectacularly well, but doesn't require you to work 8 hours a day. It pays enough to sustain yourself, and give you some money to play with, and most importantly, time. Because if you're not working a full day, you have plenty of time to pursue whatever it is you like doing.

Of course, this is really only applies if you want to live life on your terms, rather than ensure you've paved the way for future generations. Frankly, I wasn't given anything in life. I'm not about to change that for my kids or their kids. Struggling for a bit, and striving to get out the pit goes a long way towards appreciating what you get when you finally get it. I'd rather my kids be smart and capable of surviving anything without losing their sense of self than have access to cable tv or an IPhone 14gs-X. That's just me.

 

[Tenzo]

I know. Especially if you have a family to support.
It would only be a temporary thing.
But as you said... life isn't fair. We often do what we don't like just because we have to. Unfortunately i don't have that much life experience to give such advice.

 

[Grega]

Im thinking thats because of the unnecessary security thats forced upon us. We are forbidden to do anything dangerous and even fined for it even if its only our own safety thats endangered. Example: Some countries across the world have started adapting the law that every person riding a bicycle needs to wear a helmet during the last year or 2. If they dont, they get fined, and some of those fines are even as high as drunk driving.

From schools on out we are taught that we can be anything we want if we work hard while in reality thats as much of a farce to keep us in line as it is telling kids that santa will not bring presents if they are naughty. People are being turned into zombies by all those pressures placed upon them all the while knowing that something isnt right, but not figuring out what. Lets not forget that regardless of what we may think we are animals. We take joy in chaos and as proof of that are the ratings for TV shows. The most viewed shows all contain either violence or information about people who go though tragedies.

We watch that so that we can say "I feel bad for them" while boosting our ego knowing others are worse off. The few people that arnt like that and actually dont think like animals deep down are cast aside as outcasts or weirdos.

Ever since we escaped the clutches of mother natures predatory circle, we have started warring for useless things, not because we would need those things, but because we grow stale and mortified with a false sense of peace. World war 2 is a perfect example. Millions died yet the ones that lived have never felt so alive.

And that brings us to the current predicament. We are searching for something that would fulfill us in our jobs. We are searching for that missing thing. If we give up we become social zombies, if we find something that fills that desire, then we stay there until that something becomes an every day thing, before repeating the whole circle again all the while we are telling ourselves that its for the future or for our children. The sad thing is that we are never happy, because we lost that sense of danger that enabled our ancestors to invent tools, to form communities and so forth.

We may deny those facts with all might that we have in us, but deep down everyone feels the same. Its the number 1 reason for wars, for arguments and fights. Its also the number 1 reason why people search for ways to endanger ourselves be it by yelling at each other or jumping off a cliff and gliding a few meters next to it. Or even racing with cars on public streets.

 

[Zeonix]

I thought this picture was relevant to my post:

 

[Didgy]

I live because it's a lot more fun than dying. And if I have to bust my ass off to survive, then give me your best shot.

 

[Henry]

I live because it's a lot more fun than dying. And if I have to bust my ass off to survive, then give me your best shot.

You don't know that, you haven't died yet

 

[Grega]

Kinda my point.

The people struggling the hardest are usually the ones who seem more alive compared to the ones who dont

 

[Didgy]

You don't know that, you haven't died yet

When living is as fun as it is, dying can wait. We all gotta go sometime, but why would I go early if I'm having fun?

 

[DiebytheSword]

I toil my earth, struggle and save and make my living the best way I can. I don't understand a mentality that forces you to not have fun though, I play hard too. Its the only way to balance what is needed and what you want. I agree with Zeo's pov concerning the youth, there are many things you should give them, and a very small part of that should be material. Ever watch a kid play with a stick for hours? Not everything needs to be set upon by dollars that you haven't earned. Maya is doing chores for spending money. When she goes out, she is allowed to spend as she pleases, with the understanding that we don't refund bad purchases. If she breaks it its gone. If its not what she expected she doesn't get replacement dollars. She's gotten pretty good at handling money as a result.

 

[Shonnie]

Also, we work because we all want a better living for each other. Without work, there wouldn't be much like there is now (Vehicles, Science, Food, Clothes etc) . It's the community you contribute to and the cash is what you can have.
(No work makes us lazy and would make our world very small)

 

[sg2]

You know, the philosophical question he asked remains unanswered despite all the nice and valid points you've all brought up.

He asked "WHY DO WE BOTHER?", because you're all going to die. Me too. We're going kapoot...

You may try to make it seem less bitter if you go Akuna Matata and all, I agree and I do it all the time to avoid depression myself; however, it's an approach where you already know that "I'm going to die anyway, so why not enjoy the time I have while I still can and stop worrying about it". Your cry is that you are not going to be immortal, that jobs consume too much of our free time. I think that's entirely legitimate and there's no need whatsoever to refute your logic, unless it's a means of anti-depressant.

 

[Chakra-X]

I'm only here for so long, so I wanna make the best of it. Have great friends, a great family, a loving significant other. I am going to school for animation, a profession where it is certainly tricky to find a stable job, but I have goals I want to pursue. I am even a bit materialistic. It brings me joy to use an awesome computer, I get a breath of escapism with video games, and I am gadget-happy with my iPhone. All of this makes me happy.

 

[Avenger]

I do it for scanning electron microscopes.

 

[Tenzo]

You know, the philosophical question he asked remains unanswered despite all the nice and valid points you've all brought up.

He asked "WHY DO WE BOTHER?", because you're all going to die. Me too. We're going kapoot...

Yeah... let's just sit down and wait to die, that'll happen eventually, right?
Our time is limited so many people try to make the most out of it. It's better than doing nothing. I mean... as much as i may like slacking off, you get bored eventually.

 

[Nick_Da_Wizard]

"what's the point in doing things if your just going to die in the end" its attitudes like that that will get you nowhere in life. You find your life worth living for you gotta accept death, embrace it. Because if your not worrying about death then you have so much to live for