Ask Lemmy

I hated the idea for the longest time. Then I realized a few things. I changed my outlook of working a hopeless job to a job being a tool for me to get the money I need to live a better life. I also accepted that life isn't fair and that not all the work I put in will equal the output. It feels like you have to do the work of 10 men to get anywhere. I accepted that and I put myself to work.

Sometimes you just have to get lucky and sometimes you have to grow. I worked many temp jobs and fast food restaurants until figured stuff out and landed a couple decent jobs. I started being able to hold a job for 1 year and then 2 years. I got lucky and found a temp job that decided to hire everyone perm. The catch was they waited to see who would sink or float. I floated. I wouldn't have floated if I hadn't had previous life experience.

Look at a job as an avenue or tool to achieve your goals. If you don't have any goals then just pick something. It could be as simple as you want to save up for something nice. Start small and pick bigger goals as you achieve them. And going back to the job as a tool thing, if you don't like the tool then get a new one. You wouldn't use a broken tool to fix something. Sometimes you have a bucket of random tools and you have to pull out a couple before you find the right or that isn't broken. Whatever to you pick, just try and keep trying. As long as you keep trying, you'll figure it out.

I would also add to try to improve yourself along the way. Whether it be working on self esteem, how to write a resume, interviewing skills, how to cook, how to improve your finances, how to fix a car, work on a computer..... Just work on something. You'll only help yourself and learn transferable skills along the way.

If you can swing the training, even at the CNA or EMT level, there is healthcare. Purposeful work. Knowledge that helps your daily, and is never entirely useless. If nothing else it will save you from spurious trips to the urgent care or emergency room, or tell you when to use the urgent care instead of the emergency room, and save you money there. Even before ACA there were shortages. There’s potential here for fallout as with everything else, but if hospitals can retain nonprofit status I don’t see much changing in terms of need.

For now anyway, until nonprofit status/benefits get yanked, hospitals pay part of education upgrades. They typically offer better health insurance too, if you stay in their corporate system and don’t have kids.

I’m sure there’s other purposeful professions that don’t have an impossible buyin.

I usually recommend trades. Building something with your hands, again with a skill set that carries over into your household, has purpose. But with immigration policy, a sizeable piece of the grunt work force may be kicked out, so I’m not sure what will happen there but I suspect house building will slow down.

Get a STEM degree and move to a country that respects its citizens.

My kids work because they want money.

It is hard to find a job, even harder to get by without one; I do have some friends who have never been employed exactly, only hustling, working for themselves, with varying results. It's possible but not probable.

I'm really sorry you are hurting so bad but we can use every sane person, if we give up things just get worse.

Editing to add: Two things can be true at once - the system is designed to funnel money to people who don't need it and keep most of us struggling. It's baked in, yes. But it's also true that your own life is yours to live, and your own actions and thoughts what you have the most control of, and that you can make changes that improve your life.

I know it's easier said than done, but try to find work that actually helps your community, but that you also find fulfilling - child, elderly, and or disabled care, working for a charity doing anything from fundraising to cooking to IT, working in a community centre or library, coaching, teaching, handy-work, gardening, and on and on. The pay may not be as high as it is other places, but at least you'll know that you're contributing to your community in a positive way.

Bonus points if the place you work is a non-profit, unionised, a co-op, or generally outside of the existing establishment (E: so not part of the state or a large corporation) - building dual power is imperative to changing society, we need communal structures and networks to fall back on once this shit collapses. You can be part of that.

Are You An Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You!

E: while we're here, Mutual Aid

Don't think too much, you get depressed. Do like everyone else, buy shit you don't need and get likes on social media by bored strangers.

And watch Fight Club.

I'd say qualitatively and quantitatively, this system is a scam. I get up and deliver by getting myself into interesting shit that matters no matter who's writing the check (excluding Raytheon or any of those other psycho motherfuckers).

Energy security is important, particularity environmentally compatible forms.

Medical services that don't bankrupt people are important.

Making processes easier is important even it comes to reducing/eliminating waste.

Even the seemingly mundane 'basic research' has a lot of interesting caveats buried below the surface.

Find what interests you in this one life you have, do the work to get there, make friends with people who want you to get there (and help them too).

Good luck, fuck capitalism.

lots of denial, nicotine, and THC

not a fix but will definitely smooth some of the rough edges out a tiny bit

if all else fails my grandfather says to run in circles screaming and shouting

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.

Capitalist Wage-Labor is a scam. Surplus value comes from labor. Labor is a commodity just like anything else on the market, but the price of labor itself is tied to general subsistence plus replacement, it isn't tied to how much value is created. Differences in wages come from various factors but regulate around cost to replace, ie training requires a lot of time, so this is represented by higher wages.

Instead, we should be advocating for public ownership, so that the people get the spoils of their labor, and can pay into a general fund of sorts to provide safety nets, infrastructure, and more that don't rely on the profit motive. In other words, we should transition to Socialism.

I recommend you read theory. I wrote an introductory reading list for Marxism if that appeals to you or anyone else.

Feeling disillusioned with the system is something many people go through, especially when faced with the challenges and inequities of modern life. It’s okay to feel this way, but it’s also important to find a way forward that feels meaningful to you.

Start by asking yourself what truly matters to you—not what society or others expect, but what you value. Is it financial independence? Helping others? Building something creative or meaningful? When you connect your work to a purpose that resonates with you, it can be easier to find motivation.

Another approach is to focus on small, achievable goals. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when looking at the big picture, but progress—even in small steps—builds momentum. You don’t have to “buy into” the entire system to create a life that works for you. Sometimes, the goal isn’t to fix the system but to carve out your own space within it.

Finally, surround yourself with people and influences that inspire you. Whether it’s friends, mentors, or even online communities, having others to learn from and lean on can make a big difference. Change starts small, and often, just starting can help you see things in a new light.

A mentor once gave me an exercise to identify my "core values" or goals or motivators. Out of a list of 60, the task was to narrow down over time and conversation to my top 5.

E.g., I value financial stability. Not to be confused with other values of earning high compensation or achieving lofty corporate positions and recognition.

It helped me frame for myself that I'm going to work to be comfortable and stable and beyond that, my motivations lie elsewhere, like spending time with friends and working on personal projects. There are people who put greater value on achieving a high salary or earning the c-suite title or having their names on patents; that's perfectly valid and great for them, it's not me and that is also ok.

There are tons of similar exercises online. If it sounds like something that might help you define your perspective on work differently, to narrow it down to you instead of getting overwhelmed with the whole world's problems, please look into it and good luck.

I don't have any good advice for you. My company held an all-hands call today during which the CEO said "Now that the election is behind us we can look forward to political stability", among other equally insane things. You could say I'm feeling pretty down about the whole situation as well.

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.

I feel ya brother. I’m 41 and wondering why the hell im even saving for retirement. I’ll be dead before I’ll ever be able to

I don't know, I'm in the UK and feel similarly.

It is a scam, in the end it is pointless to try, but you gotta eat, clothe yourself, and it's warmer indoors, which all necessitate to generate income._

Brother you need some help. The rate of decay is slow and steady and almost imperceptible to a normal lifetime. Finding a job may actually help. Now’s your chance to get in where you fit in. Love games? Get a job at local games store. Like animals? Go apply at a zoo. Find people that you can relate to. Good luck man. You can do it.

If you're still young and not too much in debt, try to work some fun jobs, like outdoor educator, youth hostels, ski mountain, or whatever floats your boat. Travel around. You don't have to try to make it in the world right away