My job tends to push me well beyond 8 hour days & 5 day weeks. I feel like my job requires a ton of emotional labour, and I find that super draining. Normally when I'm working, I'm falling behind in sleep and self-care. If I have free time, often times I need to just chill out and rest. I tend to put something pointless on YouTube or Netflix just to relax.
When I have some time off, my body stops screaming to slow down. I catch up with sleep and exercise. I can read as much as I want to. I touch base with old friends who I haven't talked to in a while. I can do much more IRL activism. Basically, I become the person I wish that I was normally.
God I wish I had some passive income coming in so this could be my life. Everyday would be a vacation. I'd probably go to the office and waste my employees time with meetings so I'd feel like I was doing something. I'd go to a Global South country, pretend I'm volunteering, and meet other trust fund kids who think they're making a difference. If I had enough capital, I'd found some NGO that makes freedom maps, and the DPRK would get a very sinister colour. I could go to cocktail parties and brag about how my NGO is making a difference. That it's all funded by the exploited labour of my workers is easily forgotten after 3 martinis.
Looking back at the past, I can't see any path that I would become a capitalist, as there was no chance of me getting capital, except becoming an especially evil sort of grifter. Maybe I'd be a very different sort of person if my parents left me a 5 million nest egg.
Two suggestions.
First, start applying for Civil Service jobs. If you're in the US there are places that list all federal, state, and local job openings. It might take a while to get hired, but you'll have a strong union and paid overtime.
Second, buy and use this book. "Discover What You Are Best At.' Linda Gail. It's a series of self tests you can finish in an afternoon, with a list of jobs that use those skills. I'd never considered the career path the book suggested for me; turns out it's pretty nice to be able to have a job where you fit in.
I'm not in Amerika
Thanks for your advice. Honestly I was just whinging that work takes so much of my physical and mental health.
The book will still be useful. The job I was interested in had a six month evening training program. Once I got certified I was able to find a job pretty fast.
That book sounds interesting 🤔
I went from hating working to being willing to get up on a rainy Monday. There are a lot of jobs that you've never heard of out there. I suggest this book to people all the time because it worked for me.