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Quitting the rat race

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Re: Quitting the rat race

#51

Post by skippyboxedhero »

dvt wrote: post #11

I might be a bit harsh, but this is a typical western le bon sauvage misunderstanding about what goes on in the wilderness. I also grew up in the mountains (of Eastern Europe), and I equally despise the eye-rolling fakery and the hustle and bustle of modern day Los Angeles. I love camping, and I surf, and kayak, scuba dive, offroad, and explore. But I don't make the category mistake of thinking the former is somehow…

The same is true in London. You travel forty minutes away from where this guy works to rural areas (i.e. still in the "affluent" South-East of the UK), you will meet young people who have no qualifications, they can't leave their parent's house because property is too expensive, they live somewhere with no job market beyond working in a pub, no entertainment, there usually isn't even a supermarket...think about people living in Tower Hamlets, this is in the City, highest GDP per capita area in Europe, now imagine you earn £9/hour...how do you have kids when a 1-bed flat costs £1.2m? You aren't "racing" for anything, you are getting run over. You only get to quit the rat race once you have won, not because you have discovered some alternate way of living.

99% of people in the UK would take years of their life for the opportunity (even in other cities in the UK). Not for happiness, for the fast cars, nothing like that...to eat, to not worry, to have children, to live somewhere safe. Again, being in the race is a privilege, most people aren't racing, there is no sport...they are getting run over.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#53

Post by huitzitziltzin »

Try seeing how fulfilled you are making the least money you’ve ever made! Maybe very fulfilled, maybe not at all.

If you don’t like what you are doing, do something else. I don’t know if it’s worth trying to project your personal dissatisfaction into some broad diagnosis of social ills. Many of the alternatives to the rat race are pretty dismal.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#54

Post by fsckboy »

itisit wrote: post #34
dvt wrote: post #11

I might be a bit harsh, but this is a typical western le bon sauvage misunderstanding about what goes on in the wilderness. I also grew up in the mountains (of Eastern Europe), and I equally despise the eye-rolling fakery and the hustle and bustle of modern day Los Angeles. I love camping, and I surf, and kayak, scuba dive, offroad, and explore. But I don't make the category mistake of thinking the former is somehow…

I think you're overanalyzing what is too brief of a blog post to draw any sound conclusions about the author's meaning or their character.

> too brief of a blog post

the author kept it brief by relying on cliche after cliche, telling us to make sure we watched a completely cliche video. Why do people who have a critique of society think that they're the only ones who ever thought of this stuff?

can't get enough of it? here, enjoy https://youtu.be/n-sQSp5jbSQ?t=28

Re: Quitting the rat race

#55

Post by [deleted] »

ablatt89 wrote: post #24

It's a rat race if you never enjoyed software engineering and computer science from the start, and joined due to the growing SWE hype in the 2010s. Most people in the world have to work 40+ hours a week, and on weekends. It's kinda crazy to not take your career choice in perspective, which is relatively cushy, good perks, good pay, often wfh or decent offices, and call it a rat race because... you think you deserve t…

[deleted]

Re: Quitting the rat race

#56

Post by Frost1x »

dvt wrote: post #11

I might be a bit harsh, but this is a typical western le bon sauvage misunderstanding about what goes on in the wilderness. I also grew up in the mountains (of Eastern Europe), and I equally despise the eye-rolling fakery and the hustle and bustle of modern day Los Angeles. I love camping, and I surf, and kayak, scuba dive, offroad, and explore. But I don't make the category mistake of thinking the former is somehow…

I think the key here that people often desire and even fantasize about that which they don't have. A little bit of the grass is greener syndrome here as well.

The lesson I think to learn is to be true to yourself and try and be objective when assessing life. I grew up in extremely rural, a very nature heavy childhood and there are parts of it I believe are fantastic. Meanwhile as I grew older, I found there were things denser populated urban centers could offer me. Every now and then I look back nostalically about how simple life was but there were a lot of tradeoffs in that context I wouldn't just get rid of now.

For me the compromise is to find a moderately densely populated area with access to densely populated resources. I have most all the access to nature quiet and sanity where I live, meanwhile within a 15 minute drive I can do most everything one has access to in say LA or NYC as far as things I care about and am interested in.

As with many things in life, I don't think the extremes are where happiness tends to lie, it's some compromise or mixture in between.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#57

Post by geraldwhen »

divbzero wrote: post #50
BizarreByte wrote: post #8

It’s a short piece, but it resonates with me, specifically this part: > I’m earning the most money I’ve ever made and yet I’m the least fulfilled I’ve ever been. I’m making the most I’ve ever made and I’ve never been less happy and more depressed. I despise being a cog in a huge corporate machine, it’s like the job was designed to be as unappealing as possible. At the same time I can’t get over the fact that I have i…

Remember that there are a range of options between highly-paid cog and financially-independent early retiree: jobs that pay less or jobs with higher uncertainty that care more fulfilling than the huge corporate machine. You could potentially find a better situation without quitting altogether.

Or you go full corporate but cut your hours by interleaving things you enjoy, like hobbies or gym time.

What happens if you take a 90 minute bike ride each day without changing your hours at all? Would anyone notice? Would they care?

Work is about dollars per hour. Salary is a trick.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#58

Post by rrsmtz »

Waterluvian wrote: post #48
kashkhan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's a reason humans build cities. The wild is out to kill you. Pretty but deadly.

Not disagreeing. But someone once said it differently and it clicked for me: the wild is out to utilize you . We build cities in part to invert that status quo.

Let’s not forget that society is also out to kill you and utilize you. HN commenters are near the top of the food chain, while exploited third-world workers and oppressed groups are at the bottom.

Re: Quitting the rat race

#60

Post by BaseballPhysics »

dvt wrote: post #11

I might be a bit harsh, but this is a typical western le bon sauvage misunderstanding about what goes on in the wilderness. I also grew up in the mountains (of Eastern Europe), and I equally despise the eye-rolling fakery and the hustle and bustle of modern day Los Angeles. I love camping, and I surf, and kayak, scuba dive, offroad, and explore. But I don't make the category mistake of thinking the former is somehow…

Amen to this, man.

I love being in the wilderness. I love the quiet, the beauty of nature, the fresh air, the opportunity to stretch my legs and challenge my body.

And I love the city. I love good food and municipal garbage collection and plowed roads and the company of friends and family within easy reach.

I've often thought about buying a property closer to the Canadian Rockies (I'm close, but not as closed as I'd like), and then I remember that I'd have to maintain my own septic system, and invest in equipment to clear my own roads, and, and, and... and then I realize maybe my life ain't so bad after all. :)

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