working for money and living to live as a doomer zoomer
I hope everyone is having a not-so-doomsday today! If anyone is looking for a first-person perspective on the modern reality of the seemingly ideal path to financial success, here you go. I wouldn't say this perspective is relatively fresh, though this train of thought is quite relevant to what many others feel nowadays.
There was a day I talked to my high school friend's mother when I went to visit their new house about my college career and the path I was planning on taking. When I told them why I pursued such a career path wasn't because I liked it, but rather for money and stability to comfortably enjoy my hobbies, they seemed to be taken aback, calling me the first kid their daughter's age to think so maturely (I am not, if you couldn't already tell by how I write like a middle schooler).
I slowly have gotten used to praises like this, as they never really meant much from my parents in the first place. But hearing it from another person confirmed my persistence towards achieving a normal life.
And it's weird. I know plenty of others who have pursued other career paths for the same reason, yet did not receive words of praise like I did. For example, my peers doing computer science would end up getting laughed at for entering a failing job market, when in reality, many people my age wouldn't have seen it coming, since they were always fed the idea that "pursuing a career in STEM will give you lots of opportunity and money". When we were growing up, the market was booming.
I genuinely don't understand what the older generation gains from putting down the newer generation (pride and power?), especially since they were the ones who set the newer generations up for failure. Let's take a look at the housing market, where those with a full-time skilled labor job can't afford to buy their own home.
At a certain point, many of the younger generation seriously question the reality of working harder to get ahead. How much harder do we have to work just to live securely? In high school, my classmates would already be fretting about their ability to get an internship and get into a good college. In my freshman year of college, my classmates would already be fretting about their ability to get an internship to get a good enough job. Will it get worse? Will it get better? Will it get worse? Only time and justice will tell.
Sometimes, it really does feel that everything is too much. But all we can do is work harder, day by day and night by night.
On the bright side, I'm sure anyone can just steal fentanyl from some random homeless dude off the streets and get high off of it for free (with a free side of STDs)! Don't forget the free AI girlfriend/boyfriend you can create with ChatGPT as a totally viable substitute for human interaction.
Such is life.