Is Your Life Worth Living?
Is life worth it?
Just so you know, no. This is not a suicide note of any kind. This is a serious question.
I have been alive for 9,000 days now. I’m 24 years old, born and raised in the suburbs and cities of Ontario, Canada. One of the ‘best’ places to live in the world. But yet my time and my body are not my own, it belongs to a company that has me break my body for them doing manual labor and driving a forklift. Moving as quickly as I can to meet requirements and probably taking years off my life from the stress. However, compared to most people my age. It’s not a bad job and I’m well compensated. I work 40 hours or more a week so I can live…. No, so I can survive in Canada while making the best of a one-bedroom apartment.
I suspect many other people are in a similar situation, or worse. The worst part is that there isn’t much of an end in sight. Maybe one day we might afford a house if the housing market ever becomes somewhat reasonable, then maybe one day we will pay off the house, and then maybe, just maybe, we can stop being a slave to a big corporation and actually get time to enjoy life and do with our time, what we truly want to do. Every day at work when I arrive in the parking lot I see men of all ages cherish their last couple of minutes before going into work. Many are on the brink of tears as to what they’re about to tolerate for the millionth time, with no end in sight. I’m one of them. I’m tired of being tired. I’m tired of waking up tired. I’m tired of not having the time or energy to play sports, learn new skills, or make things with my hands. I’m tired of getting to the end of a week only to be in fear that I have to do it all again next week, every week, forever. We get two days off, one day to recover from our jobs, and hopefully enjoy the second one.
I am a well-fed, strong, healthy young man. In my spare time, I work on various hobbies like writing and making content. I use every minute of my day to the fullest because I refuse to simply work a job and watch TV, Netflix, or whatever. I have dreams, hobbies, and stuff I want to do, but I rarely have the time or energy to do much.
I assume this is a curse many of us must live with due to an oddly high cost of living in well-developed parts of first-world countries. Our lives are highly controlled by massive companies who are at one another’s throats to make as much profit as possible while spending as little as possible on employees. The largest of companies have monopolies on entire industries and can get away with treating us, their employees as poorly as they want. We are headed in the direction of Japan. Highly advanced countries that have everything a person could ever want, except we will have no time to enjoy any of it. We are also more divided and secluded than ever before. So now not only do we not have the time to enjoy life, but too many people go through it alone with little to no friends, and out of the few friends we have, how many of them would we consider close friends? Which of those could you cry with? Would you take a bullet for any of them? Probably not, and they probably wouldn’t take one for you.
Our society, you, me, and just about everyone around you is beyond greedy and selfish. We’ve abandoned all hope of having a community or doing anything slightly hard, for the sake of others. This is why people flake out of making plans. This is why people have a hard time making friends, they don’t want to sacrifice anything for each other, not their time, money, or face an awkward silence in a conversation. If the friendship isn’t convenient, then it’s abandoned.
As someone born in 1997, I’m technically a zoomer but right near the tail end of being a millennial. Ladies, Gentlemen. Please, we have to do better. Work hard, build a business. Show mercy to those beneath you. Anyone you employ, take good care of them and if possible try to find time to let them work less and spend time with their loved ones or give them the time to do more with their time and energy then just work, eat, sleep, and watch TV. Don’t renovate your house, don’t sell to a millionaire willing to spend absurd amounts on your house, sell low to a young person just branching out into the real world. We as a generation must do as much as we can to make living worth it and affordable. That means we also must work hard. Buck up, show some grit and face our problems head-on. No drug or drink is going to fix it, that’s up to you.
As far as I can tell, at this rate. Life will not be worth it and the suicide rate will continue to increase and all our lives will be spent slaving away for someone who doesn’t give a shit about us.
However, my advice doesn’t end here. I can’t help but think that even if I had a six-figure salary and lived on a private island with all the riches the world had to offer, great food, played games and sports with my friends, and whatever else humans tend to desire. I would be depressed, it would be a useless, wasted life to simply enjoy things or even people’s company. Without using my time to create, to help others, to not use whatever tools or resources I have to leave the world better than the way I found it. It would be a tragedy. It would be a slap in the face of anyone else with good intentions. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ doesn’t give us resources for us to just sit on them. But to show that when a selfless man is given gifts, all who brush shoulders with him are blessed as well. Right now, where we stand in this world. All the work we do, just to afford a place to sleep and the gas it takes to go back and forth to work, is not worth it. Not unless you have a plan to fix the cycle for those coming in behind us. To make the world a better place and hopefully free yourself from the cycle. Move somewhere with a lower cost of living, live cheaply and well within your means, and if possible, create a passive form of income. I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking this. Let’s break free.
Good luck to whoever sees this, I’ll see you out there.
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