working for yourself is addictive in a way most people don’t anticipate & the stress that comes with it is genuinely difficult to manage. when you’re the principal, nothing happens without you. you set the tone, the structure, the culture, & the motivation. you are the foundational layer.
most ppl have never had to operate this way cuz they’ve always been embedded in a system & told what to do, when to do it, & what matters. aka the shawshank lifestyle. the human mind runs surprisingly well on prescription. strip that away & you discover pretty quickly whether you actually have an interior architecture or just a talent for compliance.
that’s what makes it so damn dichotomous. the freedom is so fucking real, but so is the weight. all i’m saying is that most ppl have never had to locate their own gravity before.
a theory of mine is that social media has completely broken the mind of Gen Z and millennials when it comes to work
their whole lives they have been told to pursue college, work really hard at their 9-5 job, go above and beyond for their boss, then save some income to hopefully purchase a home and family one day
all the people who followed this path are now watching their savings crumble away due to inflation. homeownership feels out of reach like never before
then they turn over and look at the 21 year olds making millions of dollars posting content on YouTube and TikTok. they are able to live with freedom, not beholden to a corporation, while also getting paid enough to afford everything they want
people see this and start questioning themselves. money doesn’t feel real in an economy where there is so much bifurcation between the have and have nots
the point of a job becomes meaningless. you fail to find purpose in your life anymore. and while these millionaires are the outliers, their content is the one that shows up in your feed over and over again
it is truly detrimental to society and i’m not sure anyone has a real solution to fix it
"By the way, what have you done that's so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?"
- Steve Jobs on a Critic
In our youth, we can focus on setting and achieving goals, striving for material success.
But as we transition into the second half of life, that approach no longer works and we must shift our attention inward, embracing the present moment and providing wisdom to the young souls instead of trying to compete with them.
Integrating both approaches into our psyche might be the key of living successfully in the material world while preparing our souls for what comes next after this life. (Death of the body)