How to escape the boring job/life conundrum.

[Lord of divs]

Hello whores,

After reading this website for quite a while now I believe that most of you seem like sound people with their heads screwed on the right way quietly forging your own way in the world and getting closer and closer to those goals and dreams that you hold so dear to your hearts.
I want to ask you all a question and latterly for your help.  Have you ever realised that what you might be doing at this point in your life is utterly pointless?  Do you hate waking up in the morning and dragging your aching drug addled alcohol riddled meat frame into work, to sit behind a desk and quietly get on with another ground hog like day?
I'm not meaning to complain, and I don't want this to read like a complaint on the drudgery of my life, but I guess it is.  I guess what I am trying to say is that I am bored with my life and at the same time as realising this I am not doing anything about it, it is like I have become anesthetised to my existence and I am stuck in a lucid dream of hate and procrastination.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not depressed and I fully understand my position and what I have to do to get out of it But I just can't seem to.....Its very frustrating.
Having Left University and acquiring a shit degree in Television and Radio Production, I fell into a technicians job for a small sky television company.  The money was and still is good and the work was very easy, with the odd busy and stressful periods where we would install and re-build studios and deal with live broadcast problems.  But for the main part easy.  The longer I stayed the worse and more apathetic I felt, doing and staying in a job that did not creatively inspire me at all.  But no matter how much I have hated it I have still not left.  Now I am 24 and coming up to three years in this job and I am still doing it.  How the fuck do I escape, when I seem to have a mental block about doing so?  Maybe I am in a comfort zone and that is fine.  But I don't want to be still here realising that another three years have disappeared with nothing to show for it. I want to create and enjoy my life, but I have no idea how to start, I used to make films, but that now bores me and the only thing I would really want to do is write.....and again I have no idea how to get started or if indeed I am any good.

I guess its a classic case of get off your arse, stop complaining and just do it you whiny twat.  But it would be interesting to hear if any other of you people have suffered the same problem and have succeeded in beating it, or if indeed like me you are suffering from it now.

Help.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Stop whinging people are starving in Africa.

[Pseudopath]

The money was and still is good and the work was very easy

Bastard. I left Uni 8 years ago, work my bollocks off in IT and still haven't smashed my complacent skull through that magical £20,000pa glass ceiling (although I refuse to live in London, so that probably hasn't helped). On the plus side, I've never had to pay back my student loans.

See...no matter how repetitive, dull and unfulfilled your life may seem, you're still doing a lot better than most and that's the only consolation. The seven magical tried-and-tested solutions are as follows:

i) Travel the world whilst still young
ii) Win the lottery
iii) Make the most of your spare time (cherish your friends, lovers, hobbies, pointless gadgets, etc.)
iv) Write a book about the pointlessness of existence using facile cultural targets as examples (make sure to shoehorn the prose around an affected Edinburgh dialect and spell all the words phonetically)
v) Put up with the current situation for a couple more years, by which time all ambitions and independent thought will have been bludgeoned out of you
vi) Suicide
vii) Spawn a wholly unnecessary child and transpose all of your original dreams onto it, then resent the kid for all time when it inevitably fails to exceed your expectations

Good luck!

[Lord of divs]

Stop whinging people are starving in Africa.

Very true.

[hencole]

  I guess what I am trying to say is that I am bored with my life and at the same time as realising this I am not doing anything about it, it is like I have become anesthetised to my existence and I am stuck in a lucid dream of hate and procrastination.  Now don't get me wrong, I am not depressed and I fully understand my position and what I have to do to get out of it But I just can't seem to.....Its very frustrating.

You sound like you are having very similar thoughts to me at the moment. Not depressed, but I sure as hell feel I should be. I also do technician work although doing more management stuff nowadays. I am a slave to my addictions and they might be the only thing keeping me sane, but at the same time one of the things holding me back. I have no ambitions apart from ones that involve me reducing my salary to a point where I can no longer pay my mortgage.
I look forward to someone plucking up a magical sentance that will make me go 'Ahhh Salvation!'

Viero, at least the starving in Africa don't live as stressful a life as us urbanites.

[Emma Raducanu]

Buy a shed and small plot of land and live self sufficiently and never stop writing. If all you want to do is write, then it hardly demands the highest of incomes.

[alan nagsworth]

I've been working at a hotel for over a year now and I hate it with a passion. I hate serving cunty businessmen drinks in the bar. I hate serving cunty pissheads drinks on the bar at weekends after weddings. I hate the mundane job of setting up conference rooms, they might differ in number of delegates and style of conference but they're all the same at the end of the day. Same with setting wedding receptions, all the same fucking cutlery and glasses go out every week, same everything. I can't think of manyoccupations that don't have you in a routine after 6 months other than being an extreme sports/adrenaline junkie, or someone who travels about, and even then when you arrive you have to do the same old shit at each destination. Even musicians and actors get sick of their jobs because of the mundane repetition (and all the drugs wearing them out) and being a superhero wouldn't be much cop, what with the boring job of using your powers to thwart someone who, let's face it, will never win.

The brutal reality is that every job and lifestyle is gonna get shit, regardless of whether you work or not, and the only real way to enjoy life is to take inspiration from your crappy job, get out on your days off and live life to the fullest. Well, that's what I do anyway. What else were we put on this planet for other than to kill it and have good times?

[Emma Raducanu]

I've been working at a hotel for over a year now and I hate it with a passion.

But you get free hash browns!

[Lord of divs]

You sound like you are having very similar thoughts to me at the moment. Not depressed, but I sure as hell feel I should be. I also do technician work although doing more management stuff nowadays. I am a slave to my addictions and they might be the only thing keeping me sane, but at the same time one of the things holding me back. I have no ambitions apart from ones that involve me reducing my salary to a point where I can no longer pay my mortgage.
I look forward to someone plucking up a magical sentance that will make me go 'Ahhh Salvation!'

Viero, at least the starving in Africa don't live as stressful a life as us urbanites.

Very true, I mean I really didn't want to come off as a whining imbecile as I am really not one.  I was just hoping to point out that I think alot of people suffer from this problem/attitude.  I mean it is all very well saying 'well at least your not starving' or 'at least your not suffering from a terminal illness' but it still doesn't stop you feeling the way you do.  Maybe whatever this is that I am going through is symptomatic of the modern life style in certain people.  I know I have quite a good life, but is it wrong to be unhappy with it?  Just because you have a better standard of living than someone else and again the argument could be leveled that even though you may be earning more money than someone (if that even is a yardstick for happiness) that person has a more satisfying existence due to a great relationship, great friends, or is creatively and mentally satisfied by their work and all of the aforementioned factors.

I'm just a bit lost in it all.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Very true.

Actually I was being ironically glib, which is par for the course on here I suppose. I can relate to a lot of what you said. I just always try to make sure I have something creative going on in my life. I'm interested in photography and music production and make sure I always put time to one side for these. However I know I probably won't ever have much success in either of these areas, it's not that I don't have ambition, it's just that I've seen a lot of people set their sights high, fail and then become really bitter and never create anything again. You really need to be aware of your limitations.

I'd like to think that if I did produce something that I thought could be critically or commercially successful then I'd pursue it, but for now I'm happy to just be creative for the fun of it and leave it at that.

[Pseudopath]

I'd like to think that if I did produce something that I thought could be critically or commercially successful then I'd pursue it, but for now I'm happy to just be creative for the fun of it and leave it at that.

True dat.

[alan nagsworth]

But you get free hash browns!

I actually do!

Yes, being creative is the other obvious one, don't know why I didn't think of that probably all the drugs I take (according to you tagging CUNTS!)... writing/drawing/learning an instrument and making music are all better than sitting around and just thinking about stuff. Thoughts build into worries if left to dwell and there's nothing worse, which I can say safely as I come from a long line of worriers. Worryers? People who worry a lot. Let it out, express it somehow so people don't think you're a whinger (not that I'm calling you a whinger).

[Lord of divs]

Actually I was being ironically glib, which is par for the course on here I suppose. I can relate to a lot of what you said. I just always try to make sure I have something creative going on in my life. I'm interested in photography and music production and make sure I always put time to one side for these. However I know I probably won't ever have much success in either of these areas, it's not that I don't have ambition, it's just that I've seen a lot of people set their sights high, fail and then become really bitter and never create anything again. You really need to be aware of your limitations.

I'd like to think that if I did produce something that I thought could be critically or commercially successful then I'd pursue it, but for now I'm happy to just be creative for the fun of it and leave it at that.

Aha I see and I understand you make some very good points.  I'm afraid I was suffering from 'Shit maybe everything you just started that post with was utter bullshit!' syndrome.

I agree with what you say, I really do and I need to start doing more creative positive things in my life, its just that I find myself working against my own brain.  Like I have a block that stops me from doing it.  I mean does everyone else find it easy to be creative and produce their own work without the doubt getting in the way?

[Viero_Berlotti]

Viero, at least the starving in Africa don't live as stressful a life as us urbanites.

Your right, starving to death wouldn't be stressful. It'd be just a painful and agonizing death, that's all.

[Regular Chicken]

Some suggestions. Sorry if these seem obvious / crap etc

- Learn a new instrument - join a band!
- Take up a course in creative writing / screenwriting
- Seriously consider alternative employment
- Consider taking a year out to go travelling
- Join a gym

I know people who have terrible jobs, but don't mind because there's lots more going on in their life such as loving relationships and hobbys that they are passionate about. The above suggestions will be good for your soul and mental / physical health, and are also great opportunites to meet new people.

[alan nagsworth]

Yes yes yes. I totally agree with everyone.

[butnut]

It's quite straightforward, you have reached a point where everything is fine but not great, people can stay in that situation for their entire lives scared of damaging what is good and as a result never discovering anything better. Yes, of course you can find happiness in Regular Chicken's list, but if you were the type of person who could get up off your lazy arse and do those things, you would have done them by now.
The only way to break out of this rut is to fuck everything up. All of it. I'm trying to stay off the Fight Club cliches but it's true that while you have a lot to lose you will only be able to play with the insignificant edges of your life.
Destroy all of it and you will have to discover what you are capable of and the possibilities that life contains.

[pk1yen]

I mean does everyone else find it easy to be creative and produce their own work without the doubt getting in the way?

If you don't have doubt about your own work, then you're either a cunt who thinks he's above everyone else ... or the opposite, and you don't give a crap about what people think of it. Neither of which results in much brilliant work, to be honest.

I don't think there's any point in staying in a well-paying job you hate; the amount of money you get is never worth the time you waste, and the creativity and spirit that dies along with it. If "just think of the money" crosses your mind often, while working, I'd suggest a change. Then again, nothing too drastic, unless you're 100% sure of it.

Personally, anyway, I just can't handle menial repetitive jobs; I spent a summer copying, pasting, and formatting with HTML information on turf, and turfing, for fuck's sake. And I have no recollection on how I spend the money I got. I realised that I hated it, even after changing a 5 day working week to a 3 day one and spending large amounts of the time watching South Park, made my excuses, and left.

It's not really the same, I know, it wasn't full-time employment, and I knew I'd leave when school started again anyway, but it's my only experience I'm afraid.

I'd just rather not have much money and have fun, than have lots of money and be miserable. I'm miserable anyway, of course, but in a happy way.

[aaaaaaaaaargh!]

Your right, starving to death wouldn't be stressful. It'd be just a painful and agonizing death, that's all.

For someone who enjoys being ironically glib, you don't seem to be able to spot it when other people may be doing the same thing...

[Pseudopath]

Destroy all of it and you will have to discover what you are capable of and the possibilities that life contains.

Call me closed-minded, but that doesn't really make much sense. Are you saying he should give up his house, money, worldly possessions, job, hobbies and friends and see where life takes him? Surely it would just take him to a hostel with sales of the Big Issue as his only sustenance?

I've always found that as long as you keep work and leisure time strictly partitioned in your mind, the most repetitive and futile jobs provoke the most fruitful periods of creativity. In my opinion, you have to be slightly depressed to create anything beautiful and I'm sure most of the classical poets would agree.

[Lord of divs]

Call me closed-minded, but that doesn't really make much sense. Are you saying he should give up his house, money, worldly possessions, job, hobbies and friends and see where life takes him? Surely it would just take him to a hostel with sales of the Big Issue as his only sustenance?

I've always found that as long as you keep work and leisure time strictly partitioned in your mind, the most repetitive and futile jobs provoke the most fruitful periods of creativity. In my opinion, you have to be slightly depressed to create anything beautiful and I'm sure most of the classical poets would agree.

Yes unfortunately I can't just leave it all behind and say 'right thats it fuck you I'm off!'  I have to pay rent and pay bills like everyone else and I have no problem with this, because if I don't they will come round my flat and break my legs.

I do understand what buttnutt was saying though, sometimes you have to fuck it all off to make a clean break and at the moment thats just not possible.  Taking in all the suggestions of you fine people I have some avenues I can take and see where I end up, Its been great putting this question to the floor of a bunch of people I don't know rather than friends and family as you really get un-biased opinions.  Plus milling it around in my mind I began to see no way out and you've all helped me with this.

[alan nagsworth]

Call me closed-minded, but that doesn't really make much sense. Are you saying he should give up his house, money, worldly possessions, job, hobbies and friends and see where life takes him? Surely it would just take him to a hostel with sales of the Big Issue as his only sustenance?

I've always found that as long as you keep work and leisure time strictly partitioned in your mind, the most repetitive and futile jobs provoke the most fruitful periods of creativity. In my opinion, you have to be slightly depressed to create anything beautiful and I'm sure most of the classical poets would agree.

I'm no classical poet, but I agree whole-heartedly. My uncle is going through this midlife crisis, he's about to turn 40 and for most of his life he's hitchhiked everywhere, took drugs and classed himself as some aspiring 'beat' poet. Fair enough he's a good writer but the thing he fails to grasp is that there comes a point where you need to lay off the hedonistic ways, settle down to a certain degree, get a fucking job and, instead of relying on people to lend him money or wait for his giro, start keeping track of his life, what he does and how he lives it. Still, he won't listen and as such he is now an alcoholic. Once well-respected budding genius of the family turned drunk who wallows in his own self-pity.

Believe me, it ends up that way for a fair few people if you don't stay in work. Like I said, I despise my job, but when I'm off I feel great because it's the shit in life that makes you appreciate the beauty of it even more.

[Mr. Analytical]

I can speak from experience when I say it's perfectly possible to waste a decent mind without becoming a comedy drunk or a wastrel stoner.  Just set your course for academia and then realise that you hate doing research and find yourself with more letters after your name than letters in your name, a decent brain and absolutely no skills.

I'm pretty sure that the only way for me to get a proper job would be to leave the higher qualifications off the CV and pretend to have spent 10 years in a coma.

Lacking skills also means that even if I wanted to fuck it all off and rebuild my life somewhere else, I'd doubtless be living a pretty horrid life working in a book shop or doing data entry or something equally prone to driving me to suicide.  If I were a drunk my life would be better because at least then I'd have rock bottom to look forward to.

[Famous Mortimer]

If any people with any decent job positions that need filling are reading this, I'm significantly less prone to any murder - suicide deals than anyone else who's posted so far (one or the other, maybe), am reasonably polite and own a suit.

In other words, if it weren't for being able to read CaB at work, I'd have quit long ago.

[lordaxil]

I can speak from experience when I say it's perfectly possible to waste a decent mind without becoming a comedy drunk or a wastrel stoner.  Just set your course for academia and then realise that you hate doing research and find yourself with more letters after your name than letters in your name, a decent brain and absolutely no skills.

You're joking, right? What it takes to secure a decent post-doc position in academia (at least in the sciences) should equip you with enough skills to run rings around what's required for most "normal" jobs with scope for at least some independent thought. Having said that, an ex-PhD student from our lab was rejected from a position for lacking telesales skills (apparently, answering phone in the lab office wasn't sufficient). She also failed the basic arithmetic test (in which the sums didn't follow BODMAS conventions). So, I can see how the outlook might appear bleak...

[Mr. Analytical]

Yeah... I don't think so.  Admittedly it's not as bad as it could be... I could have done a PhD in philosophy but at the moment the only obvious avenues for advancement are the academic route (having to move to some shitbird uni in the middle of nowhere to get my foot on the ladder and doing research) and the political route for which I'm either too cynical (NGOs) or not cynical enough (real politics).

But a job in London with enough pay to make it worth my while to change my lifestyle and room for some independent thought?  no chance.  Over qualified, under skilled, too old, not nearly desperate enough to put in for a graduate entry position.

Aaaiii the existential anguish of the high-fucntionning slacker.

[Still Not George]

I don't think there's any point in staying in a well-paying job you hate; the amount of money you get is never worth the time you waste, and the creativity and spirit that dies along with it. If "just think of the money" crosses your mind often, while working, I'd suggest a change. Then again, nothing too drastic, unless you're 100% sure of it

I dunno, it depends on what kind of career you're after. Sometimes you have to time-serve in a shithole in order to have half a chance of getting the kind of jobs you want.

(Not that this is in any way a reference to my own position. Nuh-uh, no siree bob, I love drudge coding for a Z-list games company on shitty games no-one will ever play. It's not like I'm just seeing out the clock until I hit the magic 3-year mark and can thus call myself an "industry veteran" and get into companies worth working for at a salary worth actually doing the hours I do. Not at all. I'm completely and totally happy with my current job.)

[All Surrogate]

Aaaiii the existential anguish of the high-fucntionning slacker.

There's philosophers in Africa that'd give ... etc.

[drberbatov]

if I were you I would quit my job and spend the next month thinking about what to do next

do this if you have a little cash saved up

[Viero_Berlotti]

For someone who enjoys being ironically glib, you don't seem to be able to spot it when other people may be doing the same thing...

AH!! but how do you know if I wasn't countering with more of the same. We could go around in ironic circles all day if you want.