Serious question. How am I supposed to keep doing this for another 40 years?
It helps if you have a house, wife, and kids that rely on you for support so you can’t quit. Bonus, work becomes like a little vacation from your family because both are inherently stressful but in different ways.
Source: Boomer coworkers who talk about how quiet it is in this loud-ass office.
Do the day-to-day fairly well. See if there’s other opportunities about that interest you, pay well, have a corporate structure you can withstand or have a preferable work-life balance. See where you can move to … try to stay in industries that can withstand downturns or make yourself valuable enough.
In terms of withstanding it mentally … find other activities and things in life that you can look forward to. Life (hopefully) isn’t about work.
God, I wish I knew
I’ll be honest, I’ve been wanting to work with trains and transit and that’s what I’m doing. So in all seriousness, I am happy with it even if I give up 40 hours per week + 7.5h spent commuting.
I know not everyone has that luxury of working for their passion and I really wish it was the case, be it art, teaching, healthcare, research, being with wildlife, sports, games, cooking, whatever.
The problem for me is if a passion becomes work, it eventually stops being a passion. Even with things I really enjoy, I need to take breaks from those things occasionally. You can’t do that when it’s not just for fun but is your actual livelihood.
I feel the taking break parts. If I could take extensive breaks every once in a while, it would be fine, but you need money so…
I suppose so. Even if you like drawing art and are decent at it, spending your days drawing furry smut commissions to pay rent isn’t what many artists would describe as an enjoyable time.
“Work-life balance” is an important thing too that startups, corporations and sometimes the government like to forget for people.
This is why I say “I exist”
When people ask how I’m doing