Perhaps we could: sell everything and move into a van to live on the road; or get a cheap house boat; or declare bankruptcy and move into a Buddhist monastery; quit jobs to transition into a more mindless one that allows more free time; find a nonprofit organization in a different country to throw oneself into; teach English in a foreign country; etc...
It's like, when we're brooding so much that we're done with life, it just seems like that's the best time to give life a chance, because at that point there's nothing left to lose.
Sure, I could go live in a cabin in the woods. That will mean my wife divorces me, I'd still need a job to pay for taxes and medical bills, I would likely end up incarcerated for not being able to pay child support, and loose the cabin/land anyways.
I get being frustrated if your dream is to live in a cabin in the woods. But it’s hard to fathom being frustrated if you value the relationship with your wife more than living in said cabin. What are the underlying expectations from your life that you feel shut out from? Based on your earlier post, the only expectation seems to be “not to work in a job I hate” which seems completely attainable.
How would you define “a job you like” and how much would you have to make to pay your bills? Are there main drivers for those bills like high cost of living, medical issues, student debt?
Obligatory not GP, but fee very similar. To me, “job I like” is a very difficult category for me to explain. Normally, when browsing jobs, I see something I think would be cool to work on. Most things disinterest me, so I maybe will see one of these once every few months, always woefully unqualified. There’s not really a specific domains, industry, etc. tying them together, just me thinking it sounds cool to work on.
I could work with $80k per year if the healthcare and other benefits are good. It would also be nice to have the ability to advance and make it to a tech lead at $120k.
Name one of those things you can do when you have family members depending on you.
To ignore that element just telegraphs a complete lack of understanding of the basic premise that underpins human existence.
To ignore that element just telegraphs a complete lack of understanding of the basic premise that underpins human existence.
You are making the extremely generous assumption that the person is unbound and able to effectively disappear with no responsibilities to anyone other than themselves.
Among the truly miserable people I have encountered, the most common reason was bearing the burden of one or more dependents. A little sister with severe mental health problems, a sick parent unable to work, a drug-addicted and orphaned nephew. Can't exactly sell the house and move to Japan when your sister needs her SSRI and therapy to not hurt herself.
And the second most common reason was having little or no income at all, for whatever reason, in which case getting a job that they hated would _already_ have been a step up.