I read the entire article and right before the picture of you welding I thought to myself, does she know she’s AuDHD? (I say this because I am AuDHD and like recognizes like.) You’ll go on your own journey, but yeah, probably a yes on those two. (By the way, nothing is wrong with you, it’s just a different brain neurotype.)
maybe I am audhd! who knows if/when i'll ever get a real evaluation for that :) for now maybe i'll look for insights from audhd people and see if it makes a positive impact on me
I have also been increasingly thinking about agriculture/food systems and how we can revitalize/change them to not only adapt to the inevitable climate changes, but also to create jobs and communities centered around meaningful labor that necessitates collaboration and deep knowledge of the environment. I think it’s a logical thought to jump to when reading about current climate policy/near future disasters and seeing those articles right next to articles about workforce burnout and ai gouging jobs. It makes sense to me that collaborative semi physical work that takes place in the tangible world is a good place to start when addressing how to move forward in the face of everything shitty right now
I loved reading all the ways you have intentionally gotten to know yourself in this season and I feel really encouraged as I’m about to have a non-traditional professional season as well. Thank you!
i’m 26 too, trying to gear up for a new era and get back into the swing of working and utilizing my passion at the same time, so i really resonated with this piece. we got this. we were dealt a pretty hard hand covid-timeline wise, and we’re getting back up!!
After my year of NEETing I’ve found myself on a different coast training to be an EMT, and I do feel a decent sense of purpose again. It hits all the criteria for me, an actually valuable profession with reasonable adrenaline and perhaps a 4 day workweek.
I think one of the other commenters is right in the following sense, basically all work is gonna suck ass in some ways and it’s just unavoidable unless you were born loaded or are extremely extremely lucky. I can’t fucking stand getting up in the morning and I don’t have enough time to do all my hobbies, and I don’t get enough sleep if I want to have any fun after a work day. You and I are alike in that most jobs people aspire to at the moment would be absolutely excruciating and there’s no changing it.
For a while I considered fucking off to the woods and going ted mode (minus the bombs) but I’m too much of a hedonist. I guess I think those are the two options, pay the dues or opt out completely.
I’ve got some NEET friends who have the means to keep on NEETing forever and I’m happy for them, so long as they enjoy it. Never gonna judge anyone for opting out. I hope to maintain this view as I start a job for real, and never become fully enmeshed in Work. The periphery of Work at the very closest. Idk where I’m going with this comment, live well and be free
the part about having high capacity to be locked in but only on things that you care deeply about is very relatable, and I daresay applies to more people than not.
Honestly really struggling with the immediate distaste I have when I read this and the previous installment in it, perhaps because it feels like a grass is always greener post; I'm an American who lives and works in Spain, and I was raised by a single immigrant mom on an H1B visa for the first 10 years of my childhood -- if you're not familiar, that's the kind of visa where if you are ever unemployed or your employer ever stops sponsoring you for longer than 60 days, you have to leave the country and your life there. I feel like growing up, I just knew that "a career that has you working 4 days a week with 5 weeks of vacation a year, a hybrid model, managers and coworkers who respect you and have everyone's best interests at heart, a job that fills you with purpose, makes the world a better place, has you working with your hands, pays you enough to live well with benefits such as retirement and healthcare" is not an arrangement that actually exists anywhere on Earth; I can promise you, nothing like that exists here in Spain/the wider EU, and it won't exist in another mythic overseas land. For what it's worth, the closest I ever got to that was a job I used to have in the US. But I also can't blame you for this attitude; I feel like it's a very American impulse to want all our fulfillment from our jobs, so it has to be something that makes you feel good to work there. But that's not what jobs are: as an economic function, it's something people pay you to do because they don't want to do it for themselves. If it's something everyone would want to do, it won't pay well, because, well, why would that? I guess what I react so strongly to is the idea of getting to be impractical with work; I was raised by a community of people who went, being [xyz unglamorous, difficult, or unsexy job] pays the bills, and emotional fulfillment, purpose, and making the world a better place come from somewhere else. But, I was also raised by a community of people who had basically no options. So, maybe we're wrong.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’m just beginning my own journey of taking a year off from “normal” work because yes, I too would rather be poor than work most jobs. I love reading about other twenty somethings who sit in the chaos of figuring out life with me, this shit fucking sucks.
Thank you for writing this essay! I resonate so much. I am 25 and studied computer science at Stanford - turns out I love logic puzzles but hate being in an office at a computer!!! Now I’m trying everything I can to make money somehow else (high school sports coach, growing and selling flowers, teaching yoga, writing poetry on the street, etc). It’s scary and uncertain, but my creativity and joy has come back. The 9-5 does feel like a hallucination, and I also feel crazy for wanting (and needing) a different way of life. Just wanted to say that you are not alone!! (p.s. I also love cycling and have biked across the USA!)
Another Lost girl on sub stack how original. And by the way you're doing employers a favor by not wanting to work for them because you would do anything but work for them.
I have known many professional welders who work jobs building the bridges, factories, hospitals that keep our society functional. None of those jobs meet your demanding list of working conditions.
It is hard for me to know what to make of pieces like this which describe an understandable drive to not have a miserable work life while contrasting the army of respect worthy people who just show up and do what is needed.
What is most commendable here is that you are seeking out opportunities to contribute. Still there is a dissonance I can't quite articulate reading about hobby fun employment welding and thinking about people who do this work seriously for a living.
I read the entire article and right before the picture of you welding I thought to myself, does she know she’s AuDHD? (I say this because I am AuDHD and like recognizes like.) You’ll go on your own journey, but yeah, probably a yes on those two. (By the way, nothing is wrong with you, it’s just a different brain neurotype.)
maybe I am audhd! who knows if/when i'll ever get a real evaluation for that :) for now maybe i'll look for insights from audhd people and see if it makes a positive impact on me
I have also been increasingly thinking about agriculture/food systems and how we can revitalize/change them to not only adapt to the inevitable climate changes, but also to create jobs and communities centered around meaningful labor that necessitates collaboration and deep knowledge of the environment. I think it’s a logical thought to jump to when reading about current climate policy/near future disasters and seeing those articles right next to articles about workforce burnout and ai gouging jobs. It makes sense to me that collaborative semi physical work that takes place in the tangible world is a good place to start when addressing how to move forward in the face of everything shitty right now
I loved reading all the ways you have intentionally gotten to know yourself in this season and I feel really encouraged as I’m about to have a non-traditional professional season as well. Thank you!
thank you for reading and your comment as well! good luck with your non-traditional season!
i’m 26 too, trying to gear up for a new era and get back into the swing of working and utilizing my passion at the same time, so i really resonated with this piece. we got this. we were dealt a pretty hard hand covid-timeline wise, and we’re getting back up!!
After my year of NEETing I’ve found myself on a different coast training to be an EMT, and I do feel a decent sense of purpose again. It hits all the criteria for me, an actually valuable profession with reasonable adrenaline and perhaps a 4 day workweek.
I think one of the other commenters is right in the following sense, basically all work is gonna suck ass in some ways and it’s just unavoidable unless you were born loaded or are extremely extremely lucky. I can’t fucking stand getting up in the morning and I don’t have enough time to do all my hobbies, and I don’t get enough sleep if I want to have any fun after a work day. You and I are alike in that most jobs people aspire to at the moment would be absolutely excruciating and there’s no changing it.
For a while I considered fucking off to the woods and going ted mode (minus the bombs) but I’m too much of a hedonist. I guess I think those are the two options, pay the dues or opt out completely.
I’ve got some NEET friends who have the means to keep on NEETing forever and I’m happy for them, so long as they enjoy it. Never gonna judge anyone for opting out. I hope to maintain this view as I start a job for real, and never become fully enmeshed in Work. The periphery of Work at the very closest. Idk where I’m going with this comment, live well and be free
the part about having high capacity to be locked in but only on things that you care deeply about is very relatable, and I daresay applies to more people than not.
What is this national guard in DC thing? I used to live there and never saw them, but that was pre-Trump's second term.
Honestly really struggling with the immediate distaste I have when I read this and the previous installment in it, perhaps because it feels like a grass is always greener post; I'm an American who lives and works in Spain, and I was raised by a single immigrant mom on an H1B visa for the first 10 years of my childhood -- if you're not familiar, that's the kind of visa where if you are ever unemployed or your employer ever stops sponsoring you for longer than 60 days, you have to leave the country and your life there. I feel like growing up, I just knew that "a career that has you working 4 days a week with 5 weeks of vacation a year, a hybrid model, managers and coworkers who respect you and have everyone's best interests at heart, a job that fills you with purpose, makes the world a better place, has you working with your hands, pays you enough to live well with benefits such as retirement and healthcare" is not an arrangement that actually exists anywhere on Earth; I can promise you, nothing like that exists here in Spain/the wider EU, and it won't exist in another mythic overseas land. For what it's worth, the closest I ever got to that was a job I used to have in the US. But I also can't blame you for this attitude; I feel like it's a very American impulse to want all our fulfillment from our jobs, so it has to be something that makes you feel good to work there. But that's not what jobs are: as an economic function, it's something people pay you to do because they don't want to do it for themselves. If it's something everyone would want to do, it won't pay well, because, well, why would that? I guess what I react so strongly to is the idea of getting to be impractical with work; I was raised by a community of people who went, being [xyz unglamorous, difficult, or unsexy job] pays the bills, and emotional fulfillment, purpose, and making the world a better place come from somewhere else. But, I was also raised by a community of people who had basically no options. So, maybe we're wrong.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’m just beginning my own journey of taking a year off from “normal” work because yes, I too would rather be poor than work most jobs. I love reading about other twenty somethings who sit in the chaos of figuring out life with me, this shit fucking sucks.
Thank you for writing this essay! I resonate so much. I am 25 and studied computer science at Stanford - turns out I love logic puzzles but hate being in an office at a computer!!! Now I’m trying everything I can to make money somehow else (high school sports coach, growing and selling flowers, teaching yoga, writing poetry on the street, etc). It’s scary and uncertain, but my creativity and joy has come back. The 9-5 does feel like a hallucination, and I also feel crazy for wanting (and needing) a different way of life. Just wanted to say that you are not alone!! (p.s. I also love cycling and have biked across the USA!)
Another Lost girl on sub stack how original. And by the way you're doing employers a favor by not wanting to work for them because you would do anything but work for them.
I have known many professional welders who work jobs building the bridges, factories, hospitals that keep our society functional. None of those jobs meet your demanding list of working conditions.
It is hard for me to know what to make of pieces like this which describe an understandable drive to not have a miserable work life while contrasting the army of respect worthy people who just show up and do what is needed.
What is most commendable here is that you are seeking out opportunities to contribute. Still there is a dissonance I can't quite articulate reading about hobby fun employment welding and thinking about people who do this work seriously for a living.
Loved this and found myself in a lot of these words too
I'm so glad!
Love the bullet points.