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You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

neilthanedar.com

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Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#201

Post by Herring »

NoGravitas wrote: post #198

TFW you understand Marx's theory of alienation, but are desperate for an alternate explanation that puts the blame on workers and doesn't threaten capital.

As Churchill said, Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing … after they have tried everything else.

Last time it took a depression and intense widespread economic pain for them to pick up socialism-lite. I don’t expect it to take anything less next time around. Nobody was asking for universal healthcare during/after the pandemic, we need an actual depression.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#203

Post by dheera »

em-bee wrote: post #194
dheera wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's also because high middle class earners are financially smart (don't buy things if they don't have the money), AND health-smart (realize their body's needs, including sleep) so they choose logically not to have kids, because they do not have the resources for it, and will not sacrifice their own well-being just to have kids. The upper class is financially smart, AND has the resources (20+ years of child r…

The lower class is often not financially smart, is not health smart, and systematically poisoned to buy things they cannot afford, including kids, so they have kids. i don't believe that is true. raising kids is not that expensive. what is expensive is the high expectations for what you should spend on your kids with that middle class and high earners have. like sending kids to college.

> raising kids is not that expensive

Huh? In a world where people have zero job security, could get put on some layoff or 15%-per-year PIP quota any time and lose their income at the whim of some politics 5 levels above, and any random health issue could cost hundreds of thousands due to insurance not paying, I'd say as a self-proclaimed financially literate person, that you'd need to save up a couple million in cash and set it aside to even begin considering kids.

I could be on the chopping block tomorrow at work and then have to downsize my lifestyle next week, but I'm prepared to downsize as a child-less person. If I didn't have the entire course of child-rearing costs saved up in cash I wouldn't consider starting the process. If children cost $2 million over the entire course of their life, I need to have $2 million now. In cash. That's the financially smart way in an income-uncertain world; you don't ever assume things that you don't already have.

20 years ago, job security was pretty good, you could relax and saving up the full cost in cash was not a prerequisite. You could throw your money into a mutual fund and get rich, because the US had sane economic leaders. You were virtually guaranteed a job if you had skills. None of this is guaranteed anymore. Nowadays, you either have it or you don't; the system guarantees you nothing about the future.

And if one wants to avoid that chopping block in today's corporate work environments, working nights and weekends is a good start, but then you'd have no time for kids.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#204

Post by NoGravitas »

blitz_skull wrote: post #170
ecshafer wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The happiest Gen Z I see are the ones that go to Church. Being religious is a bulwark against nihilism. And Church youth / under 30 groups are basically marriage express lanes, which takes the App /hookup culture hell out of the equation.

Yep. It’s almost like living the right way has profound benefits over living however the hell you feel. I’ll get downvoted into oblivion for stating the obvious, but if you’re tired of running yourself ragged you should turn to Jesus. His burden is easy and his yoke is light.

Will Jesus pay my rent? Because His yoke may be light, but my landlord's isn't.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#205

Post by tayo42 »

kevinh wrote: post #51
llmslave2 wrote: post #46

Maybe this hits for millennials and older but as a gen-z I think it's safe to say we're burnt out because everything we want is simply too expensive, our degrees are useless, dating and relationships have become damaged because of the apps, and we are inheriting a world that is broken and continues to shatter. The older generations have everything and still feel burnt out and unhappy? Cool. Cool cool cool. That will…

15 years ago this exact comment would have been written swapping out millennials for gen x and gen z for millennials.

Kind of but 15 years ago if you met online it was an embarrassing thing or something only old people did.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#207

Post by ecshafer »

NoGravitas wrote: post #204
blitz_skull wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. It’s almost like living the right way has profound benefits over living however the hell you feel. I’ll get downvoted into oblivion for stating the obvious, but if you’re tired of running yourself ragged you should turn to Jesus. His burden is easy and his yoke is light.

Will Jesus pay my rent? Because His yoke may be light, but my landlord's isn't.

Thats a bit of a strawman. Will religion pay your rent? Probably not. But focusing on a simple life around family and charity and not chasing material possessions or luxury might. Changing priorities from hip neighborhoods to family friendly neighborhoods may.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#208

Post by asdff »

wat10000 wrote: post #169
asdff wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everytime someone says something like "how can I bring a kid into this world" I assume they know absolutely nothing about history at all. Be thankful your ancestors didn't think that when they were faced with actual life and death on the line, versus these people today being miffed that their apartment isn't as large as they'd like or they have to commute a little farther in or live in a city not featured in mass med…

This presumes I'm thankful for being in this world they gave us, which is not a given.

Be thankful you have the intelligence to even have such thoughts at all.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#209

Post by marcus_holmes »

Please note that depression != burn-out. If you really can't get out of bed on a Monday morning, can't face the day, or muster any enthusiasm for anything, then you might not need a purpose, you might need medical assistance.

Be kind to yourselves, people.

Re: You’re not burnt out, you’re existentially starving

#210

Post by amarant »

enraged_camel wrote: post #137
amarant wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have more money and no kids, I still relate to your comment. I burned out basically because I'm stupid and decided to work a demanding full time job while also remodeling my house by myself. Like all renovation jobs, it ended up being bigger than planned (I actually expected it to grow from us discovering something that had to be done during the renovation, I just never expected the thing we found to be as large as…

I don’t know the circumstances but this sounds very wrong. The moment you find a problem with the foundation, you call professionals. DIY has its value but your story is well beyond DIY.

Heh, so I oversimplified that part of the story in my original post, for the sake of brevity.

You're right, one shouldn't DIY the foundation of ones house, unless you really know what you're doing(and honestly, not even then: it's too much work!)

I'm not sure it was clear in my original comment, but the 1840 I wrote in there is the original construction year of the house. The technique my foundation was built with hasn't been used for a little over a century: Not a lot of construction firms around with experience in it! And it's not easy to replace a foundation, because, well, it's under the house! Luckily repairing turned out to be possible(simplifying again, sorry!), and not particularly difficult in technical terms. It just wasn't easy either, but in physical terms.

I did have a professional "building conservationist"(rough translation) over for consultation. Basically he looked over what was, I told him my plan, and then he told me what to do instead. (I actually wasn't far off - I had spent a lot of time reading up on it before he came - he just added a few (possibly vital) details I hadn't thought of)

The conservationist did have a construction firm and offered their services, but we had budgeted for a kitchen upgrade, and while we had some margins in the original plan, with the extra work we got surprised with, we were strained to afford the materials. Just the ground insulation material cost almost as much as the new IKEA kitchen furniture!

The good thing in all this is that the new construction should, in theory, according to the conservationist who actually does know these things, probably last a couple of centuries!

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