I started out working in a career that was meaningful and provided me with a sense of purpose (I was a high school teacher), but after being worn down by the lack of work/life balance and having no opportunity to pursue my passions outside of work, I transitioned to my current career, which is much easier, and thoroughly just a job.
Albeit, its not soul crushing (as far as jobs go), I work from home, I work for a public employer (so I'm not just making someone else rich), and I have great work life/balance. So having seen both sides, I thank my past-self nearly every day for making the transition.
Anyway, it sounds like we have similar philosophies, which is basically: jobs should be for money, and fulfillment and meaning should be found outside of work (at least in our current capitalist hellscape). So I guess it just comes down to whether or not the soul crushing meaninglessness of your job outweighs the meaning you're able to steal back from outside of it, due to its ease. I know... not really all that helpful, given that you basically already arrived at this conclusion/dilemma 🙃
Oh, I also think easy (and decent paying) jobs are hard to come by and that even meaningful jobs can very easily be made meaningless given the structure/motivations of society. You're also way more likely to be exploited in an industry that runs on passion and meaning due to the fact that social reproduction is valued way below economic production. But then again, change can also be good, and like in my own case, can lead to something even better... so who knows?
Feb 11, 2024
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growing up i felt compelled to have a job that i felt contributed something "important" to the world. there is a lot of background pressure that a career should be a "calling" or something you feel so passionate about that they couldn't not do it for a living.
a really useful piece of advice i got a little over a year ago (meant to apply to scientific academia but applies just as much to humanities, arts, etc.): jobs that use the language of a "calling" do so to exploit labor. if your job is your passion, why shouldn't you burn the candle at both ends until you have nothing left but passive indifference (or, even worse, resentment) for something you once thought interesting enough to devote your entire life to?
i think a bit about what my life would be like if i just did undergrad in computer science and got an avg boring programming job. lots of choice about where you live, pays pretty well, work is intellectually interesting enough, and it actually ends at 5pm so you have enough free time to explore other things you enjoy. a few friends from college chose this path and it definitely has its downsides, but its worth considering, esp. if you are really uncertain about what you actually want out of your life.
Feb 17, 2024
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long story short, capitalism is failing (which is for the best actually!) so a lot of the systems we were told to rely on are revealing the ways in which they are ultimately unsustainable. the erosion of the high school -> undergrad degree -> lifetime career and single-income stability pipeline is a very visible example of this. our system wants you to believe that GDP is the only measure of a thriving society, so you need to become the best tool for production that you possibly can be in order to keep this number going up in perpetuity. it's totally natural for you to feel some dissonance between what's expected of you in this kind of culture and what you actually want to do. this system was not designed with the needs of the individual in mind.
our current world does a great job of convincing us that we're worthless if we aren't economically productive, if we aren't "successful," and if we aren't head-over-heels about being a cog in a machine whose only purpose is generating shareholder value. luckily, you matter as an individual inherently, and you get to define for yourself what success is and what you want to accomplish with your life. a job is only a small part of all the things you will do if you keep curious and open to the world.
with college comes the freedom to act upon the agency which you have as a human with free will. adulthood is all about reclaiming this compass for yourself and shedding the inherited narratives and expectations that your upbringing gave you if they don't actually serve to bring about your own flourishing. use college as an opportunity to get to know yourself and work your way up mazlow's pyramid of needs (or more accurately, maslow’s sailboat); find community, find hobbies, find what brings you joy now that you have the freedoms afforded you by adulthood. figure out what it is that you most enjoy doing in life and find ways to pursue that, and it doesn't have to be tied to a career/your major (that's great if it is though, count yourself lucky if that is the case).
humans are too complex and capable to be restricted to performing one type of task in one single field for their entire life. sure that's what expertise necessitates, but you don't need to be an expert in everything. the economy is weird right now because corporations are convinced by the hallucination that people come out of college being complete experts in whichever field they studied, so it can be very discouraging to feel unwanted by the job market because you don't have enough "experience." this pressure is an unrealistic expectation, and it is natural to feel as if you do not meet this expectation. the system needs to change, not you! what corporate culture fails to realize is that learning about something is not the same as doing it, and experience comes from doing. college under capitalism is a business. it's not designed to provide you experience, it's designed to maintain a tuition-paying student body. you have to seek out experience yourself.
so try new things, fail on occasion, that's how you learn. don't limit yourself to doing only things which you perceive as being productive, productivity isn't what life is about. life is about experiencing. if something interests you, do it for the sake of your own edification. you'll be a fuller and more fulfilled person for doing so, even if it doesn't leave a blip on your resume. the best things in life aren't going to show up on your transcript or your linkedin page. your dreams do not have to be defined by your career, find a dream to pursue that is true to you and then achieve it. don't fall for the lie that your dreams must relate to your profession, and that your profession defines your worth. reject any narrative that seeks to belittle you for the sake of making you compliant within a system which was not designed to benefit you.
Sep 26, 2024
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Tbh I feel like finding a job you like is mostly self awareness and knowing that it’s still going to feel like a job
A few questions that Might help:
1. think about past work experience - who has your favorite supervisor been? Why? Same for least favorite - what did they do that you absolutely could not stand?
2. Think about morals - do you want to find ~meaning~ at work or is it more important to have stability and freetime?
3. Think about past coworkers - do you like working alone? On a team? Is it important to be around people during the work day?
4. Think about what you get satisfaction out of in your personal life - is your grocery list organized by aisle? are you the mediator in your friend group? While hobbies might play into this, try and think beyond them
try and translate some of your answers into something you’d find on a job description. Maybe this exercise won’t be helpful but thinking about work like this has helped me land in a job I like
Myself as example: I like organization, having autonomy, having my voice heard, and ~believing~ in the work I do. I also get bored at work quickly. This originally led me to social work where I quickly got burnt out With 24/7 work. I’m in continuing Ed administration where I work a 9-5 ~10 months of the year and have 1-2 very hectic months and that works really well for me.
Feb 16, 2024
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I don't know how well this actually answers your initial question, I think it's more of a counterpoint to some of the stuff people have already said, but here it goes.
In the past (prior to social media or search engines) specific styles, specialized knowledge, and niche awareness actually took effort. You had to go out into the world and find a scene, be accepted, participate in it, contribute to it, and learn from others with specific knowledge within the specific sub- or counter-cultural scene. It took time, effort, and experience to craft an identity. Nowadays people cycle through various identities and trends like commodities because it takes no effort (they're sold to them by social media algorithms, influencers, brand accounts, etc.). It comes to you in your phone without you ever even having to leave the house or put in the time to discover it or participate in it (you just follow specific people or subscribe). You can be a passive observer or consumer, not an active contributor. As a result, you're not invested or tied down and committed to that core identity. You can cosplay depending on your mood or who you want to momentarily convey yourself as, because it's easy. Essentially, being a poser has become normalized. An identity is now something to be momentarily consumed and affected, rather than grown, built, and developed over time.
Granted, it's always been different in regards to "mass" culture and popular trends (both in the past and now). Those are impossible to miss and were always monopolized by specific trend setting institutions, but always by the time it gets to that point, the actual initial counter- or sub-culture that inspired it has already been coopted and has started to disintegrate under the weight and attention of mass consumption.
Feb 18, 2024
It's an action deserving of its own nickname. My cat's name is Gomez, but when he crosses his paws like this, he turns into Hodgkins Plumpersocks.
Feb 2, 2024
Please enjoy my attempt(s) to fill the void.
title: "pet; owner"
medium: hair
Jan 30, 2024