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I'm 34, and tired of working.

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drbrock said:
haha. Life is too good. Europe is good at showing you that life is not about work. The general impression I got was they put work second or even third in their lives. where I think Americans in general put work first. I been to almost every country in western Europe. Going to check out Eastern Europe in June. I have been told it is a completely different place and attitude.
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I agree. Euros work to live, and Americans live to work. They are happy to have less income and spend more time with friends and family.
 
Hugo Drax said:
The reason Americans work so much is the spend a shit load of money and then some trying to impress others.
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wat?

In any case, I really don't think the reason can be distilled down to a single sentence. However, I would argue that it's largely a holdover of our pioneer culture, from the days when everyone in the family had to bust ass just to make it through winter.
 
Hugo Drax said:
The reason Americans work so much is the spend a shit load of money and then some trying to impress others.
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BS!

Euro's have job stability, a safety net if unemployed, and universal health care. They also have 6-8 weeks vacation, more holidays & 38hr work weeks!

We also refuse to live at home with 3-4 generations of family under one roof. So maybe it is true, we spend so much on rent/housing.

We work so much because we are in fear of getting laid off and there being no safety net - none of us want to move back in with Mom & Dad and unemployment will not over most peoples living expenses for 2-weeks let alone a month.
 
This year I have trips planned to 4 continents. Last year I went to Asia and a little bit in the baltics. The year before I spent months in Africa, small trips in Europe, and about 6 weeks in the US. The year before that I spent 6 months in Asia.

Life is about priorities. If you prioritize work and money then that's going to be your life.
 
RaistlinZ said:
I'm 34, and tired of working.

At the ripe old age of 34 I've decided that I'm tired of working a 9 to 5. 2013 was like 2012, and 2014 is looking to be more of the same.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't have a bad life, per se. I'm single, no kids, have a rock-stable job and make a decent living ($75,000). But I'm just not going anywhere. I can't envision the next 30 years doing more of the same until I'm too old/tired to get up in the morning.

I'd love to transition out of the rat race and doing something enjoyable. Maybe the proverbial "mid-life crisis" is hitting me early. D: The only time I really feel free and alive is when I take cross country road trips and explore. I'd love to find a job that allows me to venture out and see more of America.

But I gotta do something. I HAVE to. I'm tired of not doing anything with my life. I'm tired of waking up early fighting D.C. traffic, sitting at my desk dealing with other people's issues, hoping for a promotion or recognition year after year and my only friends being people I know from work.

Anyway, I know I'm ranting without purpose. 😛 Maybe it's just the holiday blues, but we're 5 days into the new year and I'm already feeling depressed. Did anyone leave the daily grind for good last year, or planning to this year? How did you do it? I'm yearning to do it - to do something, anything, because I can't keep going on going nowhere.


Cliffs:
  • 34 years old, single, no kids
  • Feel like I'm going nowhere
  • Cannot spend another year feeling depressed
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Wow that is about twice what I made last year, and I just Retired,
I basically lost One Months take home pay to retire.

I worked for close to 36 years till I was eligible to Retire at age 55.

Hang in there, I hope you can Retire at 55 too.
 
Retiring early ia great if you can but you will need something to do with your life. If all you did for the first 50 years of your life was study and work you might be a really boring and bored person in retirement.

Besides I almost never see older people doing the really cool stuff out there. If you're looking forward to retirement make sure you stay healthy since most people are simply not going to be capable of a super active life style after retirement.

I would highly suggest going to places and doing everything you can dream of thay is physical while you're still young nd healthy
 
I'd feel without purpose too if I were coasting through life mid-30s alone. Hobbies to meet someone, etc. would do you good.
 
ponyo said:
I'm working my ass off to provide a good life for my daughter. If I didn't have her, I might have stopped working years ago.
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My kids are getting the fringe benefits of my and my wife's work too. My oldest is currently getting a college education on us but if things were to tighten up, she can borrow her way through school as I can't borrow my way through retirement.

Oh, and if I didn't have kids, I wouldn't be working as hard as I am now (as I might already have enough to semi retire)! 😉
 
HumblePie said:
The amount of work hours per week has America ranked first of any country. Japan is second. Americans on average work more hours per week than anywhere else in the world.

Now America does have a significant amount of people that don't really work at all, but all countries have that. Ours just are a bit more vocal.
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I think you are wrong on this. In asia they work mon - sat. Morning - 10pm
 
7window said:
I think you are wrong on this. In asia they work mon - sat. Morning - 10pm
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I agree that HumblePie is out to lunch on his claim. Average American men working slightly more than women doesn't equate to "Americans on average work more hours per week than anywhere else in the world."

Gender Disparity in Third World Technological, Social, and Economic Development

Studies have shown that in developing countries women, especially poor women, work an average of 12 to 18 hours a day compared to an average of 8 to 12 hours a day for men (Jacobson, 1993; Momsen, 1998). Among the tasks women perform are subsistence farming, food production and processing, traditional weaving and sewing, soap-making, petty trading, craft-making, baking, shop-keeping, procuring energy fuel and water, household work, payment of child- ren's school fees, animal care, caring for the elderly, and raising children (Akubue, 1995).
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Working time

United States[edit]
In 2006, the average man employed full-time worked 8.4 hours per work day, and the average woman employed full-time worked 7.7 hours per work day.[22] There is no mandatory minimum amount of paid time off for sickness or holiday. However, regular, full-time workers often have the opportunity to take about nine days off for various holidays, two weeks (10 business days) of sick leave and two weeks (10 business days) of paid holiday time, with some workers receiving additional time after several years.[38] Because of the pressure of working, time is increasingly viewed as a commodity.[39]
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chart1.jpg

Charts from the American Time Use Survey

IMHO, one of the main contribution to boredom/depress with job is due to the fact that American have too much free time.
 
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AViking said:
Americans work way more than Europeans but the Asians are 50% higher than us.
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Hell, that might even be the truth for Asians working IN America. Japanese workers in their US Satellite plants seem to never leave, often working 12 hour days for weeks on end.
 
That's true in Europe (dare I say Europe?) at least in my experience in a few countries. If you want to go to graduate school at Max Planck over here for example expect the Asians to be there all the time making you look like a slacker for only working 10 hours a day.
 
Engineer said:
Hell, that might even be the truth for Asians working IN America. Japanese workers in their US Satellite plants seem to never leave, often working 12 hour days for weeks on end.
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I don't get why anyone would work 12 hours/day on a regular basis for someone else. When Americans brag about working hours like that, I just roll my eyes and shake my head. Do people not have anything else in their lives?

Hugo Drax said:
The reason Americans work so much is the spend a shit load of money and then some trying to impress others.
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I'd wager many (most?) of these folks are salaried so working more won't necessarily translate to more money. People love to be martyrs and if you listen to many people talk about their jobs, you'd get the impression from them that 1) the company would sink without them 2) they "have" to work those long hours. Unless you're the owner of a small business, neither is likely true.

I used to work long hours several years ago. I had a friend at the same company who clocked his 40 hours per week and what was it. He used to laugh at me for working those hours and told me it wasn't necessary and to work smarter, not harder. That's the key phrase -- work smarter, not harder. The only think my long hours got me as a reward was more work and when I finally learned to say "no," my life became much better.
 
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I'm 24, single, making under 30,000/yr at a job (researching toward a ph.D....someday....) that everyone will tell you I should hate with a passion based on the general viewpoints held by society on such things. But I'm actually happier with where I am now than I have been generally in quite some time.....why? Because:
a) hang gliding when the conditions are good
b) things going well in lab (towards papers, which I guess is as close to a 'promotion' as i can get in the near future heh)
c) I play ultimate frisbee in the evenings with friends on almost every day
d) softball in the summer with friends
e) football in the fall
f) soccer in fall/winter/spring
g) tennis more or less every week with a few people at my skill level
h) myself and some others have a couple 'social' (eh....drinking) activities that we plan on that tend to be very good for relieving stress PLUS learning important shit (I get more out of those meetings than the actual planned meetings, honestly, because you learn what is actually going on straight up instead of having to stumble through the usual facade of crap that formal presentations end up requiring)
i) been working on some other personal skill goals (music cooking etc)
j) dating.....eh....lets not turn this into an L&R thread 😉

I found a bunch of activities I enjoy. I do them every week. Some are more for pure enjoyment, others are cases where I hope to improve myself over time, ie I am working towards a goal of some sort, which I think is good generally (I really hate that 'I'm not going anywhere' feeling with a passion, both on macroscale (life) and micro (capabilities at a sport, etc)), some are both. I'm not rich (or anywhere close to it), but i am doing my best with what I have......and at some point you realize that having fun activities and people is a whole lot better than having a lot of stuff. I think a lot of people sacrifice happiness for years/decades to get a lot of stuff before they realize that that shit is basically worthless. I would like to be comfortable in terms of money at some point in life, but do not want to sacrifice my soul to get there. Right now I make enough every year to save ~5-10k, so I'm not particularly scared money-wise, although I hope to do better in the future. But right now I see no reason to force myself to hate what I am doing with my life every moment of every day just to be able to say I have more money in the bank.

Figure out what you enjoy.....find a way to be able to do that. Hang gliding is at the top of my list for a reason. Find whatever you want to put at the top of your list.
 
IndyColtsFan said:
I'd wager many (most?) of these folks are salaried so working more won't necessarily translate to more money. People love to be martyrs and if you listen to many people talk about their jobs, you'd get the impression from them that 1) the company would sink without them 2) they "have" to work those long hours. Unless you're the owner of a small business, neither is likely true.

I used to work long hours several years ago. I had a friend at the same company who clocked his 40 hours per week and what was it. He used to laugh at me for working those hours and told me it wasn't necessary and to work smarter, not harder. That's the key phrase -- work smarter, not harder. The only think my long hours got me as a reward was more work and when I finally learned to say "no," my life became much better.
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Damn, I don't see them often here but that's about the most eye opening (and true) statement that I've read in a long time.

:thumbsup:

This thread has made me even more sad......*sigh*

🙁
 
Fmr12B said:
BS!

Euro's have job stability, a safety net if unemployed, and universal health care. They also have 6-8 weeks vacation, more holidays & 38hr work weeks!

We also refuse to live at home with 3-4 generations of family under one roof. So maybe it is true, we spend so much on rent/housing.

We work so much because we are in fear of getting laid off and there being no safety net - none of us want to move back in with Mom & Dad and unemployment will not over most peoples living expenses for 2-weeks let alone a month.
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Wow with all of that combined you'd think I wouldn't see so many McMansions with $50k cars parked out front, but I do.
 
Fmr12B said:
We work so much because we are in fear of getting laid off and there being no safety net - none of us want to move back in with Mom & Dad and unemployment will not over most peoples living expenses for 2-weeks let alone a month.
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If I have to work 60+ hours regularly to avoid getting laid off, they might as well give me my severance package now and I'll go find another job.
 
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