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It feels all but certain that I won't be able to enjoy a prosperous life or get to retire. All of the wealth is going straight to the top. All of the opportunities to move up in the world are being rug-pulled. All of the federal agencies that help keep us safe and healthy are gone. The social safety net is getting flushed down the toilet. We will live in disease and squalor, and the most vulnerable of us will die.

Because I dared to not be a sociopath, I and anyone else who voted for sanity will be deemed enemies of the state and hunted down - which won't be hard, because it would be trivial to build the most robust surveillance state in human history if it doesn't exist already.

I myself have disabilities (which I don't think qualify for benefits) that make it hard, but not impossible, to find a job. The problem is that I just can't bring myself to do it because I don't get what the fucking point is anymore. I have to work so hard to get out of this rut just for some fascist fuck to kill me or toss me into a torture facility before I can even experience life on my own.

Have you been in a similar headspace and were able to escape it? If so, what snapped you out of it?

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[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 15 points 1 hour ago

It still gets cold outside. If you don’t work you’ll live there

[-] VintageTech@sh.itjust.works 3 points 17 minutes ago

Many people do work and live out there.

[-] djsoren19@yiffit.net 3 points 1 hour ago

I continue to live because the goal of the system you described is to kill us. As long as we still breathe, they haven't yet won completely, and we still have an opportunity to chuck spanners into the gears to try and slow the enshittification. The bastards in power are the smuggest, shittiest, most vile excuses for human life on this planet, and any drop of satisfaction we can deny them is a victory.

[-] Zementid@feddit.nl 5 points 1 hour ago

MVW... Minimal Viable Work. Companies think only they can deliver shit? Just deliver the bare minimum.... as they don't the customers.

[-] ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 27 minutes ago

Companies don't care us, why should we care about them.

[-] moon@lemmy.cafe 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

For survival. Do you somehow have the choice to simply not have to finance yourself to stay alive? This reeks of privilege, when your worries are about politics rather than staying alive.

[-] card797@champserver.net 10 points 3 hours ago

I enjoy eating and air conditioning. Gotta work for it.

[-] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

"toss me into a torture facility"

What? Step away from the internet for a while.

[-] zarathustra0@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

I feel you, but you need to remember that the world is generally a pretty chaotic place and predicting the future when complex systems pass tipping points and transition to new equilibria (as they are at the moment) is pretty difficult.

Invest in yourself, your ability to cope with new and unfamiliar things, and build resilience. Resilience being the ability to bounce forward when you hit rocky patches. Don't expect to bounce back and end up where you left off, but learn to adjust to the chaos where you need to.

Develop your capabilities until you have a sense of being a competent, worthwhile and dependable person outside of the circus going on around us. Someone that isn't quite so dependent on the big bad system we are often forced to be part of.

[-] normalexit@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

I work because I enjoy healthcare, food, and shelter. The system has always been rigged, so you just have to find something you enjoy (or can tolerate doing). Ideally try to think about things that make you happy and can pay you, and maybe try doing something in that field.

When I go on vacation to tropical states there are always some overly tanned boat captains that just drive drunk tourists around and get paid decently well for it. I always think about those guys when I'm having a hard day at work, "man, they sure figured it out"

[-] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 5 points 5 hours ago

If I don't work I become homeless and starve to death. I do the minimum to keep my job and fuck the rest.

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 3 points 5 hours ago

I feel the same. I found a way to leave the country. Will be leaving in the new year. I have kids and I can't have them growing up here anymore. Time to try something new.

[-] ealoe@ani.social 53 points 9 hours ago

Log out of social media, go outside, interact with real people. Life is not remotely as bad as all that, it just seems that way because social media has told you to be scared. Humans are extremely adaptable, we will overcome whatever the problems are.

[-] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 6 hours ago

Frankly, in my experience the social media has been unreasonably optimistic

Most of the struggles and worries come from real-life expriences

[-] tee9000@lemmy.world 8 points 7 hours ago

This needs to be an auto comment on every post in Lemmy.

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[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 10 points 7 hours ago

You should be worrying about getting paid first... Work is just a way to get to get paid.

[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

100 percent agree. Always fight for pay, not for rhe company trying to pay you less.

[-] GhiLA@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 hours ago

Get a pet.

There. Now go to work or it dies.

Consider this practice for children.

[-] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 hours ago

Counterpoint: Don't have children

[-] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 3 points 5 hours ago

Getting depends for which you got neither money or time is abuse.

[-] Acamon@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

I get the sense from your wording that you might be in the younger end of the spectrum. Although the world can feel pretty shitty and messed up, it's often worth remembering "this too shall pass". Obviously no one wants the world to be awful, and living through hard times isn't desirable, but just like the good stuff never lasts, the bad stuff changes too. The Great Depression lasted a decade, the Nazis ran Germany for just a bit longer.

Those were presumably fucking dreadful times to live through. But the decades that followed were comparatively prosperous for the countries. What's happening in the US is depressing as all hell, but it'll change, and all you can do is the best you can to make it less dreadful, for yourself and the people around you.

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[-] ohlaph@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

It's not easy. What I found helpful is if you can separate work and personal life. Only work for money unless you start your own business.

Separating the two allows you not to care if the business does poorly, it allows you to not feel guilty when your boss fails or the business does poorly, or needs extra help but you have a date that night.

I was laid off in September from a company, started a new company on Monday, they announced layoffs on Tuesday, and found out Wednesday my job is safe. Suffice to say, companies don't care about you so get in, cash out.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 7 points 7 hours ago

I have no answer for you. Really, there is no point. Hopefully enough people give up on the system that it crashes and we can start over.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

If everybody gives up on the system we fought to build with protections for workers and public goods everyone can use, then starting over will just cause more death and suffering.

People love to romanticize accelerationism until the civil war start and they begin starving.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Just like middle aged doomsday preppers except its soviet flavored and encouraged by foreign psy-ops.

[-] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 0 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

What protection and public good? What little we have is gone in three months tops.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)
  1. Minimum Wage, Workers Compensation, Unemployment Benefits, Fulltime Employee Benefits, Union Protections, paid sick leave, maternity leave, vacation days, minimum employee age requirements, the ability to sue your employer for discrimination or other wrongful termination, etc

  2. Roads, Hospitals, Schools, Libraries, Water supply, Fuel Reserves, Medicaid, Medicare, etc

And yeah, we're going to lose a bunch of shit, because of assholes like you convincing everyone to "give up on it".

[-] olafurp@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

I mean, work is always a shit deal, trading life for money but you need money for life also including retirement which is a lot less guaranteed for millenials and younger.

I'd recommend learning a trade like electrician or plumbing. You get fat stacks and control your own time. It takes a bit of time to learn but the work you do will never be a scam since it's you working for an average person and yourself.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

It probably helps in one way and harms in another to say: it feels that way because it is that way.

It's at least nice to know you're onto something. You're seeing what's there. Your head is screwed on straight! Yay!

The situation still sucks, but a partial victory is a partial victory.

[-] bear@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 5 hours ago

You have fallen down a rabbit hole and lost your mind to bad ideology. What you need to do is get your mind right but it's not a quick or easy process.

[-] multicolorKnight@lemmy.world 12 points 9 hours ago

TL; DR Get in on the scam.

Pick something you like to do, or have a talent for, and plan a path to make money from it. You may still have to work for someone else initially, to develop skills and get experience, but it will be better than doing a shit job only for money.

Research what resources there are to support your startup. Even in places where there is no help from government or anything else for individuals, you will find they want to support business.

Especially if you have extra challenges, if you get good, they will make a narrative around your success and promote you as an example.

[-] NeoToasty@kbin.melroy.org 11 points 10 hours ago

If I want things, I need money and the only way to get money without practically committing any financial crime that there is, it's to work for it. Quite frankly, it's unhealthy to be bathing yourself with this mentality of dreading the reality of the matter. I won't disagree that it sucks, but there has to be other directions out there for you than just that.

But I do suspect the reason you're feeling this way is because of you mentioning disabilities and I can't imagine the kind of world you're in where, it seems like there's a layer of disrespect towards the disabled when it comes to work.

[-] sol6_vi@lemmy.world 13 points 11 hours ago

Maybe try to find a small business you care about or interests you? I own a small business. It's me, my wife, my sister-in-law and two friends I made in the industry. We all get paid $16/hr. We got to create the environment we wanted to work in. Its a lot of work but we're happy and feel more free than we would elsewhere.

I know I'm coming from a point of privilege writing this but I like to think we're all on equal footing at my place and we're doing our best to grow together rather than making me rich. I've worked for a lot of small businesses as well and they often have more respect for skills and individuals - not all - but a lot. If you find a place you like or even love it can become like a second home.

[-] theangryseal@lemmy.world 11 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

God I miss my job.

More than 20 years of peace and I took it for granted. When the boss started talking about selling the place I thought, “Who would buy this outdated hole in the ground that makes no real money and is surrounded by competition?”

What bums me out the most though is that when I was 16 he said, “Come work for me. In 10 years I intend to retire and I’ll lease one of these places out to you and you’ll take over when I die.”

I knew it wasn’t happening at the 11 year mark.

Don’t be loyal. Jump around. Don’t throw your life and time away. Everyone I know who has ever made any money did so by selling their skills to the highest bidder.

I helped someone else get everything they ever wanted and I got nothing but promises.

Don’t do that. Seriously.

(I should have made this its own comment but yours is the one that moved me to write it. The speech is directed mostly at OP and anyone else who stumbles onto it.)

[-] dan1101@lemm.ee 10 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

I work to have money for shelter and food and, just as importantly, some spending money for hobbies and travel. The freedom to be able to drive basically anywhere any time is a great thing to have.

The inequalities today are large but also the standard of living for even the lower class is probably higher than any other time in history. You can go your entire life without holding a shovel or hammer or piece of firewood Imagine instead having to build your own house, grow your own food, and cut firewood to stay warm. Things aren't so bad.

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this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2024
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