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This is a necessary *corrective* to bad advice other people give, perhaps, but if it were actually generally true then there'd be no such thing as the stereotype of a "midlife crisis"
Nobody getting paid six figures would suddenly crack up and burn out and wreck their life https://twitter.com/mouneer/status/1342559926611271681
Nobody getting paid six figures would suddenly crack up and burn out and wreck their life https://twitter.com/mouneer/status/1342559926611271681
In my particular case, the #1 person who was the biggest cheerleader for this POV throughout my entire childhood, to the point of red-faced shouting stridency over it, *did* walk out on his six-figure job to go chase scammy business deals in China because he flipped the fuck out
So, I mean, sample size of one, but the kind that leaves an impression on you
Going directly from "Arthur, you need to *grow up*, a steady paycheck is worth more than any of your childish fantasies" to screaming at my mom "I'm NOT going back to work there, I CAN'T"
Going directly from "Arthur, you need to *grow up*, a steady paycheck is worth more than any of your childish fantasies" to screaming at my mom "I'm NOT going back to work there, I CAN'T"
I mean, if I were asked to give advice to someone these days, I just wouldn't
I don't know that there is any good advice, except obvious stuff like not eating Tide Pods and not dating Trump supporters
I don't know that there is any good advice, except obvious stuff like not eating Tide Pods and not dating Trump supporters
What you learn after spending enough time in the world is that literally anyone can be so miserable they straight up kill themselves one day, and a lot of times they don't give you any indication it was coming, and it is fairly weakly correlated with how "successful" they were
People who have a lot of money and a steady job and a big house kill themselves
People who live a simple, pared-down starving artist life so they could immerse themselves in their passions and their creativity also kill themselves
People who live a simple, pared-down starving artist life so they could immerse themselves in their passions and their creativity also kill themselves
People who do *both* and are living the dream as wealthy celebrities who are rich and famous because of doing what they love as their career kill themselves too -- in fact that's one of the things they're famous for doing, it's a stereotype
How the hell could I tell you what life to live just based on those facts
Even presupposing you have a choice between those different lives is supposing too much -- plenty of people do "everything right" to calculate a way to financial success and still fail
Even presupposing you have a choice between those different lives is supposing too much -- plenty of people do "everything right" to calculate a way to financial success and still fail
I don't fucking know, man
I will say that I do repeatedly notice a trend of people becoming noticeably happier once they stop doing the thing they didn't want to do and start doing the thing they did want to do
But that's a truism, and even then it's not a guarantee
I will say that I do repeatedly notice a trend of people becoming noticeably happier once they stop doing the thing they didn't want to do and start doing the thing they did want to do
But that's a truism, and even then it's not a guarantee
But, like
All the time you see people who follow the stereotypical path of quitting their stable 9-to-5 to do something stupid because they were just going stir-crazy, and they end up weirdly happy over it
All the time you see people who follow the stereotypical path of quitting their stable 9-to-5 to do something stupid because they were just going stir-crazy, and they end up weirdly happy over it
And you see the reverse, people who try to stick it out as actors or writers or comedians or whatever, get pissed off and sick of it, and deliberately "sell out" and find they're much happier with the big steady paycheck
Maybe the rule is just that the grass is always greener on the other side and therefore people need to be in motion, at least periodically, to go taste other flavors of grass
But then again there's people who jump around between life paths every six months and seem to be miserable about it -- and people who seem to be happy doing that
And people who only do one thing their whole lives and are happy (or are miserable)
And people who only do one thing their whole lives and are happy (or are miserable)
I dunno
Sometimes I don't even think happiness, in and of itself, is something easily changeable by circumstances, once basic needs are met
Some people are just unhappy people
Sometimes I don't even think happiness, in and of itself, is something easily changeable by circumstances, once basic needs are met
Some people are just unhappy people
