Reading over some other threads here, I just want to expand that there’s nothing wrong with saying “I don’t want to work for a living.” You (everyone*) deserve to have a good life where your needs are met simply because you exist! It’s not like you asked to be born. Sure, people still have to grow and harvest the food, build the houses, make the clothes, etc., but there are many who’d do this just to do their part for their society, not for a paycheck. And they’re not doing it now, because they’re stuck in unrelated jobs they hate or tolerate or even enjoy, to earn that paycheck to buy all the basic-need things that should be a given for everyone in a functional society. (Yes, I view all societies that don’t provide basic need fulfillment for their people to be inherently dysfunctional. So I pretty much despise 99% of human societies, I guess. They’re about all f*cking corrupt to me.)
That said, when most people say they don’t want to work, they mean they don’t want work that has no fulfillment or deeper meaning for them. I’d love to spend my days growing food and flowers for people’s health and happiness, catching feral cats for trap-neuter-release to reduce the human-made problem of cats struggling out in the wild, and helping to build homes and keep our roads maintained. Instead, I’m stuck in a dead-end receptionist job for barely over minimum wage, making rich corrupt corporate d*cks richer. I don’t have the time or energy to do all the things I want to do for my society and planet. I don’t want to work (this job). My work has no meaning for me, and I have no loyalty to it. I want to do work that actually makes a positive difference to someone other than rich dudes’ wallets. It’s totally okay to not want to take part in the dysfunction of society (while perhaps also acknowledging that sometimes you have to, in order to not die).
Of course, all this means asking yourself what you really want out of life! And then being able to find it and pursue it. And succeed at that, however you measure success. I guess my advice really boils down to, “Figure out who you are and do your best to become that person if you want to be happy.” But that’s advice that applies to literally everyone, not just workplace thoughts, so it might not be particularly helpful here. But who knows? Maybe it helps to see it in writing again.
(I’m also swamped with random bouts of work right now. That’s making it very difficult to keep my thoughts in order long enough to type this, between people interrupting because they need something from me.)
*Except the people I hate, and with good reason, like my violent stalker. THEY deserve to work themselves to death in jobs they hate. 😉
