Jobs terrify me.
The entire system does, really.
There, I said it. I know we're not supposed to, 'cause it's immature and in this suck-it-up-buttercup world, we're maybe supposed to behave like grown ups and accept life's responsibilities as they come.
That's the answer you'll often get, if you're questioning/complaining about the system for real. To grow up and accept the depressing duties we all share. Except... who decided these responsibilities? Certainly not life or the universe. Once, maybe. Once, there was a careful order where each member of the tribe/village had their role that served the better functioning of the collective. I can see how complaining then would've been dickish.
But how the fuck does me writing ads for some fizzy poison help the collective? Let's be real, a good amount of jobs are superfluous. That's not to say they're not valuable (to their respective corporate masters and even to the individual themselves), just that if they were to disappear tomorrow, we'd be fine.
Which begs the question, why are we lining up to enter this psycho consumerist matrix that is modern society? I know this might come across as naive, but doesn't it terrify you that so many people waste their time on this beautiful, spinning ball that is Earth, limited precious time, slaving away at BS jobs? It does me.
Talk about FOMO. It chills me to the bone to think I could miss out on this fantastic existence because the matrix makes me sit at a desk for 8 hours every day to deserve to live on this planet, in the first place.
Jobs are supposed to provide you with meaning and for some (few) people, they do. With satisfaction and purpose. For the most part, we outsource that meaning to external consumerist satisfactions. We get coffee, buy clothes, line up for new restaurants, pay for Insta-worthy holidays. All in a desperate bid to justify our own sad existence. All under the delusion that maybe if my coffee costs 30$ instead of 5$, it will all have been worth it.
Except it never is.
The full moon last night from inside this concrete jungle.
Are there alternatives?
I know there are and that Hive is an aggregate of people who've experienced them, thankfully. Which is why I'd love fresh input.
The more I consider my own future prospects, the more I am convinced of two things. One, as I said, is the fear of missing out on this finite existence trying to mold myself to a disappointing human stereotype. Two, the compromises need to be drastic. At least, in the eyes of the modern society that's raised us.
Again, this may sound entitled. Boo hoo, we'll skip Zara. But it's not. Think just how ingrained the traditional work hard, get a house, get a car mentality is in our inner world. This is the very first example we've known of what adulthood is. Growing up, this is what most of us were reared to want and strive for. So yes, the mental compromise alone seems immense.
And so might the material ones. While minimalism (and I'm using the word in lieu of breaking the fuck out of this toxic matrix) might on the surface mean skipping Zara and Starbucks, at its core, we're talking about a lot of other so-called concrete commodities, like less space.
How do you make that jump? How do you prepare for it? They say happiness might be out there, but we're enmeshed in this society that teaches the air outside is poisonous. Is it bravery that eventually opens the door? Is conformity cowardice?
Wave if any of that made sense.
