I've been unemployed for almost 6 months now. I wasn't even paid enough while I was working, but now, I've depleted all my savings, my credit card balance is going up, I'm not even sure how much longer I can keep collecting unemployment, I still have absolutely zero job prospects, I'm having a hard time affording anything that gives me genuine enjoyment.
Beyond money, I don't have a good social life. I really only have acquaintances who would all rather be with other people. Me thinking about finding love feels like me thinking about being a billionaire, basically just a fantasy so far from the conditions of my life, it's absurd.
If I finally get a job, what then? I still have to scrounge to financially recover? I'm still alone? What do I even have to live for?
Capitalism gets so many people to this point, yet so many people still have so much aversion to tearing it down.
I'm really wishing the best for you. I'm in a decently similar spot, at least mentally, and I'm hoping I can get whatever happiness I can get in this system.
Because we are going to win, and it is going to be glorious.
I am glad you exist.
Buckminster Fuller was at the end of his existential rope, was contemplating suicide after his daughter died from complications that he blamed on his own poverty and inability to provide. He lost his job, and was going to drown himself.But then he had an epiphany and decided to kick ass instead.
"From now on you need never await temporal attestation to your thought. You think the truth. You do not have the right to eliminate yourself. You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.[21]"
Went on to invent tons of cool shit, geodesic domes, just led an amazing life. I too suffer from chronic depression but I think about Bucky a lot
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller
I'm very genuinely glad it's clearly helpful to you and others, but I personally find these kind of narratives to be negative, bordering on harmful.
Nobody is ever suffering heavily, and then just 'decide to kick ass', like it's just a decision you take. No doubt his recovery from anxiety and depression was a lot more complicated, involved a lot of other people, and was a far longer road, than that. Cool life story and goal, nonetheless.
Having had a friend recently commit suicide I realized my ability to actually influence people and affect change is limited. There was literally nothing anyone could do, he wanted to die and he killed himself. I think about Bucky, he wanted to die, but he decided he help people instead. This is the only point of my comment. I can't save anyone, I can't fix this, all I can do is point out that there is another way.
I totally feel it, I too have had a friend commit suicide and it made me confront a lot of things. It's cool you're sharing these stories and how they inspire you - just saying I find my own interpretation a bit different, that's all.
yeah that shit is toxic as fuck. what do these dorks think happens when someone tries the bullshit and fails? survivorship bias is a helluva drug
I'm sorry that my attempting to help someone is toxic as fuck. It really hurts me to hear this. I guess I'll log of for a while.
it's noble but frequently misguided. Don't uncritically valorize "attempting to help". redditors posting the hotline aren't actually helping, the hotline itself is often directly harmful to people in crisis, and something like pouring water on a grease fire is going to make it worse 100% of the time.
"inspirational" willpower from nothing stories aren't reproducible and are horrible to hear as someone who's been horribly depressed for 2/3 of their shit life and has no useful agency or power.
I think it's unfair to respond like this. I'm not a fan of the story either, personally, but it's clearly a story that some people really do derive value from, even if you and I don't.
it's unfair to think anyone can just hoist themselves to famous scientist Buckminster Fuller's drive and achievements and it blows to have that lib shit coming from comrades
Except they didn't say 'anyone can just hoist themselves', they just said it's something they think about a lot. They were empathising and sharing a story they found helpful, that was all.
Your significance will remain forever obscure to you, but you may assume that you are fulfilling your role if you apply yourself to converting your experiences to the highest advantage of others.
I needed this too, thank you ❤️
this is just Christian moral ethics about suicide for atheists
You do not belong to you. You belong to the Universe. Your significance will remain forever obscure to you,
I'm sorry but
how bout fuck off telling me I do not belong to me?
Vengeance. When capitalism makes life intolerable, Living is a Revolutionary Act.
Don't let the bastards get away with it. Do what you can so others don't suffer as you have.
When capitalism makes life intolerable, Living is a Revolutionary Act.
I don't agree. being totally alienated and suffering for more decades doesn't change anything or contribute to a revolution. existing in our misery is just misery, it doesn't go anywhere and our ends aren't even served by adventurism.
I'm not talking about adventurism, I'm talking about survival in place.
Even if you stay still, in a room, posting, the system still needs to use a small amount of resources to oppress you.
Those resources are not being used on others. A thousand people who simply refuse to die can screen the acts of a dozen professional revolutionaries, and strain the system even more.
I get that its miserable, and may never end, and I do everything I can to make people's lives better, but ultimately its not about us, it's about "The Cause". And we have a duty to humanity to do what we can, even if that's just exist.
Even if you stay still, in a room, posting, the system still needs to use a small amount of resources to oppress you.
Those resources are not being used on others. A thousand people who simply refuse to die can screen the acts of a dozen professional revolutionaries, and strain the system even more.
lol wut? i'm pretty sure the only resources I'm draining are the food I eat and the electricity I use. the system would be more inconvenienced if my family put me on the street
I’m sorry, but I hate when people say this shit.
Maybe it works for you idk
Well I've been with no job for 2 years now. I did an unpaid job for six months to scrounge some experience out of it. Now I'm still out in the wild.
I won't say I'm happy or content. I never am. I am dejected but I don't care enough about it. If I am feeling really cornered time to time I try to talk to friends and find a way out.
I don't have a booming social life. If I am near my friends I might meet and plan a day with them. Otherwise its just me. I spend most time alone. Whether its going to movies or having some drinks. Last I remember drinking was day before new year I had like a beer and smoked cigarettes. It was just me. I don't mind that.
I don't have savings or credit either. I have very unwell parents who aren't financially well. My dad is still swallowed in debts. I don't see ways out of the misery like ever.
I don't think I have like much to live for either. But I also don't think I fully feel that way. I have contemplated that so many times for like a decade now. I don't have dreams or ambition or anything. I just have nothing. But I don't know, I also don't wanna give up either. Cause there are people in way dire edges and they are still fighting. I don't know why I shouldn't be. I don't find much solace in thinking of reasons to live. I feel like I need to find em.
I don't know finding job or finding love or whatever is not the end all be all. I have a friend who recently married his long time lover. He didn't really had any job at that time he was in love with his partner. His partner didn't leave him or stopped loving cause of where he was at life. Four years went by and he found a job, then he married. I don't know. Nothing is going to only happen in some vaccum. Shit takes time to materialize.
You're at a low point but you can't be thinking about all your life now. I've also been at the 6 month unemployment and it get you really hard. I am now happy in my life, not everything is fixed but that's ok
Try to do small things, one step at a time
I face similar struggles. While I’m currently employed part time, I don’t know what my prospects are once I’m done with school, but beyond that I don’t have much to live for either. I don’t care about life being inherently meaningless, but I haven’t been able to find anything that makes me care. People my age already have multiple years planned out ahead; some are at much more advanced positions than I am; others are talented enough to just shrug and succeed no matter where they end up. People say to not compare yourself to others, but when I have nothing under my belt beyond “I have a job and degree therefore I can eat and sleep on a bed,” I can’t help but feel pathetic and alone.
My hobbies are solitary and I don’t care about them enough to be passionate or even engage in them regularly. I have people I call friends but rarely do they call me or text me invite me anywhere, and even when they do, I simply have nothing to say. No one to love or just mindlessly fuck. I’m in contact with my family but I don’t have anything to say to them either beyond small talk. I’ve participated in orgs, and while in private my anger and hatred for the injustices around me is fermenting, in real life I just feel like all that energy is depleted and siphoned away as I experience first hand repeatedly protesting with no progress made.
I simply exist, but at the same time it feels like I’m not even here.
Life doesn't need to have a meaning that aligns with the idealist timeline held by society/media. I've done long stents of unemployment (longest was 7yrs), even have the same acquaintance situation (easy to hookup, beyond that idk about relationships never seriously tried), I just try for low grade improvement since its good to have some sort of small goals, when things are bad aim for ever smaller like finding things you enjoy. There's other approaches for consolation, like life itself when one is held down so strongly being seen as a revolutionary act though very small in the scheme of things they compound over time.
I only have credit cards since when I got kicked off medical they gave me some bs statement claiming I made 24k a year, I've so far made 8k this year and haven't got back on (that extrapolating my income hurts), but this was good enough for me to get started with 2 cards since it worked as a statement of income. Now I'm recovering my credit from a bunch of identity theft I've had done under my name, which was weird to begin with since I only have student loans in my name, no real income nor credit history etc.
I have no reason to expect my personal situation will improve, I'm just not willing to risk a botch and ending up even worse.
Since you're venting, I'm venting, just hoping it comes off less rude and more idk relatable I suppose?
It's been about the same for me as well. Been thinking about yeeting myself into traffic or anything similar. Like I have a partner, but we've got lots of issues and been having a lot of resentment towards them especially since they never actually respected the fact I wanted an open relationship and to explore my sexuality, and to add to that we don't really fuck as often as I would like[this has been on the decline even before the bombshell further up] , and he hardly tops anymore it's usually side or ride if we do...That's one of the biggest gripes I've been having right now and now what meager looks I have had, have dried up for now until I get finances in order, go out in the sun more, and take more vitamins. Additionally if I wanted to have the touch of a woman,I feel like I've got to complete a whole checklist first ( don't be a creep or too overtly sexual[x] I'm not interesting[x], funemployed[x], I'll yap too much about politics [depends I guess but usually not the best idea, x], not as handsome as I once was[x], I'm 5'10" so that's ok I guess heights never really been an issue so there's one checkmark[✓], peen is pretty dece but isn't crazy huge so there's another checkmark [I guess?✓], weak af because of poor diet and not working out[x], 3 broke ass teeth[x], $0[x] [there's definitely more that I'll think of later I'm sure, but fact remains, I ain't shit and never gonna be shit]) IDK it's a little incelious thinking but I definitely feel far far far from desirable to anyone right now but especially women. And idk it's a bummer. At least instead of ending it I'd embark on a trip from Florida back to my home state of Massachusetts just to not fucking roast 3/4 of the year. Wouldn't really care if I made it at that point but I'd try a little. Atleast using a bike it'd only take 6 days but considering I'd have to rest, I want to assume 10-12 days. Tbf idk what I'm doing here still either, I should've found a hole to crawl in and die back in 2020. But here I am. Being a nuisance to gamers and making em rage, doom scrolling, and hoping against hope my partner gets sick of me so I can figure out myself instead of basically putting myself in a box whenever I'm around him and policing what I say so I don't hurt any fee fees and sometimes it really really makes me want to scream, especially when it seems like he's trying to shut me down (and it usually feels like I'm being monitored at all times, so much so that I'm writing this as he sleeps, like idk if it's a me thing being avoidant ). Have a pretty strong feeling I have BPD and he's a narcissist and we may both be somewhere on the spectrum. But can't really know that for sure without a proper diagnosis, but no $$$. (Nuke incoming... to preface it, Ive been wanting to be single and have told him I want us to go our separate ways for about a month, month and a half) Like I think it was about two weeks ago we got into an argument and all the fuck shit he's done kinda flooded back into my consciousness and I began acting like a dick, I realized I was being a dick, so to not escalate the situation further I just stfu and he wanted me to speak, and to urge me to, he started shoving me around my room into my desk chair. Eventually it got to the point he put me into a full nelson, I tried maneuvering in such a way to get him to release me with no dice. But I was still holding on to a small glass and so after falling from the bed with an extra 290ish lbs [I'm about 180lbs] on my back onto my shitty concrete floor, I again maneuvered myself in such a way that I was facing the ceiling, I asked to be let go, and once I was ignored, I banged the glass against his elbow until it shattered and slightly cut my hand, waited and asked once again to be let go and once I was ignored again, I stabbed him in the elbow. He threatened to call the popo and I dipped with nothing but what I dressed myself with before I left and later secured a bug out bag at a Walmart and attempted to perform a Death March, basically covering that same distance, about 1500mi, but somebody at the library told me I should go back and have the LL kick him out and honestly, I shouldn't have listened. I didn't need the things I left behind and because a) I haven't paid my rent [because of mold and general LL BS] b) my partner isn't really welcome here[ mainly because he has a habit of pulling my strings to just turn me rabid...] c) I was sweet talked by my [situationship] partner and I felt a little guilty about how things transpired and d)LL is trying to sell the house and there's no written lease and as a result of everything my move out date is the 25th as of now. [I may or not sue but IDK all of what I need to know and.... It just feels like a whole shit show. ]And because it's so close I'm doubtful I'll be able to find a place and or transport my things to a storage unit... I just should've never fucked around with him way back in 2021 and never ever let him back into my life when I had had enough the first time around. So yeah... Tbf to myself the only real way I could've avoided him completely would've been to move out of state since he had stalked me using different numbers and on Grindr after our last breakup, he says he wasn't stalking me since he could've showed up to the job I last worked at or came in through my backyard since he had a gatekey, but y'know cyber stalking is still stalking... It's been feeling like limbo for awhile. If he could be a workout partner it'd be slightly different/tolerable (probably not though) but he has a bad back he refuses to get surgery to fix and because of that he'll keep making the injury worse and worse, add to that he has asthma whenever he exerts himself physically. Which isn't really a bad thing but I could be all but bedridden for months and then I can get tf out of bed and walk 20 miles on a whim with just a nasty sunburn and feet blisters as a consequence. So it just feels like we're just at two different levels. And I want someone to match it or barely outclass me when it comes to fitness to build both of us up. I know that's kinda hard to ask for in a bear sometimes but idk man. It's frustrating. Mums been dying and did get surgery for melanoma (I think... or she's still being scheduled... I really should spend a good 3hrs talking with her) but I've been kinda ignoring her which I know is terrible, but he doesn't want me talking about what went down (which if I know my mum she'll commend me about it or say something along the lines of the apple not falling far from the tree) and I'm sure she'll be saddened by the fact I'm still around him and I don't want to deal with all of it right now. It's just been feeling like I'm in between a rock a hard place and it's been overwhelming and as a result I've been as much of a potato as my absent fathers irish blood will allow. I just never feel like I make the right choice ever and it sucks so much ass. But again here I am. Still breathing as fucked as the situation is. Again I can't express enough how enticing free rent and The Forever Nap ™©® would be right now. But still I get up and do what little I must to stay alive. I think it has to do with wanting to see America on fire from it's injustices it's committed and partly due to wanting a fascist pull the trigger themselves, having to work for that kill. Even more than that though, I feel as though I still owe recompense to a few people and need to do some kind of good in the world. Being as privileged as I am, being from a first world country it'd also feel selfish (to me). So the only capacity in which I would do such a thing would be some revolutionary sacrifice(or some sappy bs like that, but in Terraria).
So it's really just up to you and how you feel. I can't say to do or not do what you feel like doing. It's not my call because I don't know how bad life is hurting you right now. But there are plenty of comrades here ready to listen and help as much as they can, whether through kind words, encouragement, or mutual aid. When first writing this I already saw a few already very kind posts about what you're going through and hope it's been enough for you to reevaluate your feelings. And hey if you do decide on The Forever Nap ™©® there's no shame in it, we do however need as many hands as possible if we're to see revolution through in our lifetime, even as ineffectual it may feel at times while living in the 7th circle of capitalist hell. I hope as much as everyone here you decide to stick it out for as long as you can tolerate though. I'm not sure how you nor the rest of the comrades will feel about my own take and or shittily lived life but really do hope me venting about the shit I've been dealing with helps in some capacity and offers more perspective for you.
Much love and hope you feel better soon.
Later today when the sun is down I'll have a moment where I say to myself, "I hope that miserable hexbear poster I saw earlier today is feeling better."
There isn't much more I or many others here can do for you, but I have to believe that the person I saw struggling to stay afloat in this sink or swim shithole of a society can find a comfortable rhythm.
You could always try opening up about this stuff to those shallow friendships of yours, they might not be as fragile as you think.