I wonder what would happen if everyone who felt this way all at once just decided to stop. All at once, everyone turns around and goes home. How many people would it be? Half? 3/4? Most of them?
We almost got to experience a change when Covid hit, the only bright spot, but it was soon eclipsed by corporate buzzwords and inspirational music montages on powerpoint telling us how happy we are to return to offices and ten hours of driving and 1/8 of our paycheck on gas every goddamn week so we can sit in a visible place while we waste time reading emails that don't pertain to us and attending meetings about initiatives that are meant only to make the shareholders think we're doing something.
Shareholders who attend the meetings via Zoom at that.
When you're young, you have a lot of free time and no money to enjoy that time
When you get into a career, you have money, and no time.
When you retire, you have money and time (to some extent), but you're old and likely not able to enjoy things nearly as much as you would have been able to when you were younger (generally due to body aches and whatnot).
Being middle/lower "class", you're basically fucked.
I have about 3h of gaming after work during the week. So the meme is pretty accurate about this part. But I also have free weekends, enough vacation time and a job that doesn't drain much energy. So I'm fine currently.
It's easy! Just take 100% of your free time and throw it away on a far-off dream so you're completely exhausted. Go into debt trying to get a fancy degree to maybe increase your earning potential.
More seriously, if you feel you're in the same position:
If you're privileged enough and have the willpower, you might be able to find a happier work environment (though it requires sacrificing your already meager free time by searching for jobs constantly for 6-12 months or more). I know folks for whom that's paid off - very impressed with them. May also be some online courses or community colleges around that could open doors.
If your situation is impossible, I'm sorry. I feel for you.
I am privileged and happy. I do believe folks who are not happy should consider investing their time understanding other potential available opportunities including work, training, and higher education.
Obviously a, say, severely disabled person whose paycheck is captured by their abusive partner cannot apply my advice, so in that nearly impossible situation I sympathize.
Seeing reality for what it is and not giving up is the opposite of pathetic. Pathetic is assuming someone who sees life that way is going to be overcome by their mindset. Denial isn't necessary to function.
It surely gets better if you can make the necessary changes to your life to improve this.
I never hear anyone talk like this who doesn't live in the suburbs with a huge commute. I live in a city and can get to work in 15 minutes without a car.
My schedule is:
6:00am: Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, get dressed.
6:45am: Leave for work.
7:00am: Arrive at work.
12:00pm: Lunch hour.
4:00pm: Leave work.
4:15pm: Arrive home and unwind.
5:00pm: Workout.
5:30pm: Prepare Dinner.
6:15pm: Eat Dinner.
6:45: Clean up kitchen and other parts of home.
7:00pm: Movies, Video Games, Social Time, Sex Time.
10:00pm: Go to bed
That gives me a full 6 hours between finishing work and going to bed. If I choose an easy dinner, I hardly have to do anything less than fun after work, and I work in a cool part of town so I don't actually have to go commute anywhere. I can be drinking at a bar within 5 minutes of clocking out, and I don't have to drive home. Any other errands I make in a week are within walking distance of my home or work.
Before I moved, my schedule was:
5:45am: Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, get dressed.
6:30am: Leave for work.
8:00am: Arrive at work.
12:00pm: Lunch hour.
5:00pm: Leave work.
6:30pm: Arrive home and unwind.
7:00pm: Prepare Dinner.
7:45pm: Eat Dinner.
8:15pm: Clean up kitchen and other parts of home.
8:30pm: Movies, Video Games, Social Time, Sex Time.
9:45pm: Go to bed
So that gave me an entire 3.25 hours after getting home, giving me no time to fit a workout in without giving up other leisure activities. This doesn't even factor in that everywhere else I needed to run errands was a 15-30 minute drive away.
I've had some pretty long commutes in the past because my work location changes every few years. I enjoy the work, though, so that helps, but I've still been feeling the OP lately. I'm in my late 30s and I don't have kids and "fun" doesn't really do it for me anymore. More and more I need to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile instead of aimless hedonism. I'll figure it out, though, it's just time to make some, as you say, necessary changes again.
Making sure you have time is important. My schedule breakdown isn't really the blueprint of my life. I belong to social groups, and I volunteer. I have hobbies and projects that I work on.
If you don't have enough unstructured time, you'll never have the opportunity to build structure around it.
Here's the trick: just sleep less! You'll get more time to play games do chores, stare at the ceiling in existential dread find yourself, and slowly lose your sanity as sleep deprivation begins to bring your worst nightmares to life sleep deeper in the precious hours.
At first it looked like Photoshop, and I know it is, but I just realised... it's that dude from that double suicide photo, isn't it? Russian dude and his girlfriend?
Oh, so it is. That's reassuring. The photo is from the ancient times of the net. Very peaceful, the guy like he's sleeping except it's in the snow so you know something is amiss.
That pic with its weird vibe reminded me of it.
Also... have you actually been to 4chan, my friend? Where do you think I was exposed to a suicide pic (as SFW as it was) without warning...?