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Comment by DeWilde | Hacker News Reader

Excuse me for asking, but how do you expect then to pay the rent, that is already sky high, or service your car and pay for gas, or even buy basic necessities?

Genuinely curios.

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The short answer is, I have absolutely no idea. And that excites me.

The way I see it is I can slave away at a job I hate to barely afford the things I need to live and be miserable, or I can do away with all of that and still face the same level of uncertainty and miserableness. Might as well make it a bit easier on myself in the process.

I did that for a while. Word of caution: there's a point where you run out of savings and you hit bottom hard. Not wanting to work is one thing, but not wanting to work when you're without savings is much harder. Existential dread plus financial dread just plain sucks.

But it sounds like you have a lot in savings so maybe it won't be an issue?

> I did that for a while. Word of caution: there's a point where you run out of savings and you hit bottom hard. Not wanting to work is one thing, but not wanting to work when you're without savings is much harder. Existential dread plus financial dread just plain sucks.

OTOH, this is the only thing that consistently breaks me from stagnation.

Yeah, I'm not saying don't do it. Just, it's good know what you're getting yourself into before you start. There is a tipping point.

What excites you, the thought of having to panhandle to be able to eat?

I respect that. After all, whatever we do in life the end result will be the same. So not doing what you want is truly a waste, even if it seems irresponsible to society.

I'm a polar opposite from you. I enjoy working and actual feel depressed and anxious when not doing anything. I just have an excess of energy that needs to be spent.

I prefer spending that energy traveling, talking to people and meeting new people, hobbies, and the like. These activities cost money so I'm fine with spending most of my days on a job that will earn me money to at least occasionally do what I love most.

But even without the possibility of doing anything that I truly love I would still have no issue spending 12 hours a day, every day, working. The alternative--not doing anything--horrifies me.

What do you mean by "doing nothing"? Even staying quite and still, there are a lot of inner space to explore through meditation.

Hustle and bustle is not the only way to do things. Actually frenetic laborious activities might just as well let some people feel like they are wasting their attention.

As the article point, the issue is largely led by a mindset.

I don’t mean one mindset is "better" than the other, but there are more than one way to experience life out there, and not all of them converge to maximize the GDP as an unquestionable holly quest.

I kind of feel like you have much more certainty if you don’t work.

You can be certain you won’t be able to afford anything, and eventually be in deep shit.

Just a train of thought because that's what I'm doing:

Why not trying to buy your own land and build a small community around it?

Might be much more fulfilling with very little money required.

I live in Germany and everything just costs money but if you are in the USA, there are plenty of very cheap areas were you can easily life self sustainable?

In Germany you can get a small apartment paid for by the government if you're unemployed. I'm guessing OP was comparing working to rent a nice apartment vs. living on government support somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I mean Utah also has cheap homes (but no jobs) whereas California has great jobs (but no cheap homes).

The German government doesn't relocate you to Timbuktu if you are on benefits, you get to keep living in your city and maybe even your neighborhood.

You get sanctions if you don't try interviews.

And you only get it after all your riches are gone.

After that your Rente/retirement money will become a real struggle.

I don't envy anyone going this road but I also don't mind it.

Well 4 years ago the same poster was at university and struggling to complete the course. Do they've probably never actually had a job or are talking nonsense.

Update: Passed the course, held multiple positions / gotten promotions across a few industries that I wanted to experience. Been there, done that.

Thanks for the checkin and reminder of how far I have come, though! :)

> but I'm basically one of those people who fit in the category of unemployed and not looking / don't want to work.

Yea, your story makes no sense

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