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As a young American, how do I motivate myself to work? It feels like the entire system is a scam and it's pointless to even try. (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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It feels all but certain that I won't be able to enjoy a prosperous life or get to retire. All of the wealth is going straight to the top. All of the opportunities to move up in the world are being rug-pulled. All of the federal agencies that help keep us safe and healthy are gone. The social safety net is getting flushed down the toilet. We will live in disease and squalor, and the most vulnerable of us will die.

Because I dared to not be a sociopath, I and anyone else who voted for sanity will be deemed enemies of the state and hunted down - which won't be hard, because it would be trivial to build the most robust surveillance state in human history if it doesn't exist already.

I myself have disabilities (which I don't think qualify for benefits) that make it hard, but not impossible, to find a job. The problem is that I just can't bring myself to do it because I don't get what the fucking point is anymore. I have to work so hard to get out of this rut just for some fascist fuck to kill me or toss me into a torture facility before I can even experience life on my own.

Have you been in a similar headspace and were able to escape it? If so, what snapped you out of it?

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, it sounds like you’ve been spending too much time in some online communities that are doom posting about everything. Do things suck right now? Yes, but they’ve literally sucked for as long as human society has existed.

Ah. I was worried for a second he may have been stuck in places that are only pessimistic doom posting. Good to know that life sucks now, and has always sucked. That's the positive message we need right now.

Either that or a god damned pitchfork.....

[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Yeah.... it feels like what my mother used to say when I was a kid. "People have it worse than you in ." Like okay, things suck and have always sucked. Doesn't really nullify his feelings though that they suck right now and they're having a hard time. Just feels kinda dismissive. The rest of it is fine but that part just bugs me.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 days ago

It's contextualizing, things suck, that's real and gets acknowledged, not dismissed, they can suck more and probably do for other people, this is also real. It doesn't make the suck you are experiencing magically better but it does put into a wider context and helps to show that you, likely, aren't at rock bottom without any hope. Your actions and headspace matter. They won't magically make everything great, but they can easily be the difference between bad and legitimately "ok" or better.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

It sounded like OP wanted practical advice instead of sympathy. In practice you need to make your own luck by playing the hand you get dealt in life. There are many things you can't control and dwelling on them is almost never productive.